LIBRARY OE CONGRESS. 



Shelf. .T5 4 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

THE PRESERVATION 

OF 

Fodder Corn and Other Green Fodder Crops. 

Comprising the Most Recent Information. 

NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION. 
EDITED BY 

DE. GEORGE THURBER, 



OF THE AMEEICAN AGRICXJLTTTRIST. 



I L L U S T RAT E D 



^ 




S^ 



OF CO' i; 



JUN 17 1886^' / 



./ 



Of wASHm^ 



NEW YORK: 

0. JUDD CO., DAVID W. JUDD, Preset, 

751 BROADWAY. 

1886. 



Entered, accoraing to Act of Congress, in tbe year 1886, by the* 

O. JUDD CO., 

In the OflSce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Introduction 7 

How is the Fodder Preserved 9 

Chapter I. 
The Progress of Ensilage 11 

Chapter II. 
Raising Fodder Corn for Ensilage 13 

Chapter III. 

Location of and Building the Silo . 15 

The Size of the Silo 19 

Chapter IV. 

Cutting and Storing the Fodder 20 

The Proper Size to Cut Fodder 20 

Filling the Silo 21 

Covering the Silo 23 

Salt and Straw 22 

Chapter V. 

Concrete Silos . . . . _ 23 

Whitman & Burrell on 26 

Chapter VI. 
European Experiments in Ensilage 27 

Chapter VII. 
Messrs. Buckley's Experience in Ensilage 36 

Chapter VIII. 
Wliitman & BurreU's Silos.. _. 41 



(3) 



4 CONTENTS. 

Chapter IX. 
Ensilage in Hungary 47 

Chapter X. 
The Ensilage of Brewers' Grains _ 51 

Chapter XI. 
The Ensilage of Other Crops than Com - 54 

Chapter XII. 
The Nutritive Value of Ensilage 60 

Chapter XIII. 
An Above Ground Silo 66 

Chapter XIV. 
* ' Sour-Fodder " — Primitive Ensilage __ 69 

Chapter XV. 
Ensilage in Germany 73 

Chapter XVI. 
Sweet Ensilage 77 

Chapter XVII. ^ 
Experience with Ensilage 80 

Chapter XVIII. 

Supplementaiy Notes on Ensilage 85 

Increasing the Capacity of a Silo 85 

Ensilage for Poultry 86 

The Chemistry of Ensilage 86 

The Character of the Manure 88 

The Ensilage Congress 88 

Crimson or Scarlet Clover 89 

To Build a Cheap Silo 89 

The Temperature in the Silo 90 

Nomenclature _90 



PREFACE TO THE NEW AND ENLARGED 
EDITION, 



When this work was first published the preservation of 
green fodder in the silo was new to the majority of Ameri- 
can farmers. Since then this method has passed beyond 
its doubtful stage, and the question at present is not 
so much as to whether it is practicable and profitable to 
preserve fodder as ensilage, as how to build the best and 
most economical silos, and the proper treatment of their 
contents. The object of the first edition was to present 
in a compact form the essential facts concerning silos and 
ensilage ; a new edition being called for, such additions 
have been made as the progress of the method required, 
and the work is thus materially enlarged as well as es- 
sentially improved. 

Though the agricultural world is indebted to M. Gof- 
fart, of France, for first demonstrating the practicability 
of preserving fodder in the silo upon a large scale, others, 
especially in this country, have done much to simplify 
and improve the method. Here, where the principal 
fodder-crop, maize, attains its greatest perfection, this 
method of preserving it should prove of the greatest value 
to our agriculture. Already American ingenuity has pro- 
duced machines and appliances for facilitating the labor 
incidental to the method, and the construction of the silo 
has been greatly simplified. American scientists have 
increased our knowledge of the chemistry of the silo, and 
investigations still in progress promise to enable us to 
control the changes which occur within the silo more 
effectively than heretofore. 
New York, June, 1886. 
(S) 



PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 



The method of preserving green crops, especially those 
of fodder corn, by means of Ensilage, is one that the 
wide-awake farmer of the present day can not afford to 
ignore. The experiments already made in this country 
show that this method of preserving green crops must, 
it may be in an Americanized form, be adopted as a part 
of our system of agriculture. The farmer who looks for 
information on this subject finds it scattered through 
the various agricultural journals, or in works which are 
ostensibly upon Ensilage, but often largely devoted to 
advertising other matters. 

To bring together the facts concerning Ensilage that 
are really important to the farmer, scattered through the 
journals and elsewhere, and to present them in a com- 
pact form, divested of all irrelevant matter, is the object 
of the present work, which claims only to be a com- 
pilation. In the earlier chapters the leading points are 
presented, and these are illustrated by such accounts of 
individual experience as seem most appropriate. 

In a compilation like the present, any omission to 
give credit must be regarded as accidental rather than 
intentional. 

That this little work may be of aid to those seeking 
information on the subject of Ensilage is the wish of 

The Editoe. 



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INTEODUCTION. 



Within a very few years the term '^ Ensilage " has ap- 
peared in our agricultural journals, meaning the preserv- 
ing of green fodder by placing it in Silos. In an intro- 
duction to a work on Silos and Ensilage, it is well to 
define the meaning of these terms. European writers 
all give the word ^^Silo" as derived from the Spanish. 
It means any underground place for preserving grain, 
roots, or other farm products. In American usage the 
term *^ Ensilage " means the preservation of green fodder, 
especially corn fodder in Silos. The term of M. Goffart, 
^^ Ensilage de Mais," has been abbreviated in this country 
to Ensilage, and is supposed to apply solely to fodder 
corn thus preserved, unless modified, by naming some other 
crop, as ensilage of rye, etc. 

In England the terms ^'Pitting" and the ** Potting" 
of fodder are sometimes used, to mean the same as 
ensilage. 

Ensilage is used, not only to indicate the process of 
preserving fodder, but also as a noun, and applied by our 
writers to the fodder that is thus preserved. 

The process of ensilage consists in packing green corn 
fodder, or any other succulent fodder, in close pits or 
receptacles, called Silos. It is essential that the silos be 
perfectly air-tight. They may be built in either of the 
methods indicated in this work. They may be entirely 
above the ground, partly below the surface, or altogether 
undergi'ound, in the form of a well or pit ; the impor- 
tant point being to have a thoroughly air-tight receptacle. 

This method, which has come into prominence through 
the experiments of M. Goffart, of Burtin, France, has 

(1) 



8 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

long been in use in other countries and for other materi- 
als. Some twenty years ago the * 'American Agriculturist " 
gave an account of a method of preserving clover in Ger- 
many. In October, 1873, that journal published an ac- 
count, by a Hungarian correspondent, of the method of 
storing fodder corn in pits as practised in Hungary. 

In August, 1874, was an account, from the same corre- 
spondent, of the method of storing beets, and other roots, 
Qut and mixed with chaff, as followed in Hungary. 

In April, 1875, pages 139-40, there was described and 
illustrated ^'A Dairy Barn" in Westchester County, 
N. Y., in which was a pit for the storage of brewers' 
grains. Several thousand bushels of grains were here 
kept in good condition for months, simply by excluding 
the air. 

About this time the preservation of gi-een fodder 
attracted much attention in Belgium and France, and 
several articles, by farmers and professors in agricultural 
schools, appeared in the *' Journal d' Agriculture Pra- 
tique," Paris, the leading agricultural journal of France, 
giving methods and reporting general success. The im- 
portant portions of these articles were presented in a 
condensed form in the *' American Agriculturist" for 
June, 1875, pages 222-223, with six illustrations showing 
simple pits and extensive receptacles for the fodder, 
built above ground, with the method of filling, etc. 

In September, 1877, pages 335-336, was described 
*'An American Silo." This gave two illustrations of 
the pit attached to the Westchester County, N. Y., 
barn, described in April, 1875, with hints as to the 
utilization of such pits for the storing of corn fodder. 

In 1877, M. Auguste Goifart, an eminent French agri- 
culturist, published at Paris a work on '* Ensilage." 
This was translated by J. B. Brown, of New York, and 
published in 1879. Besides Goffart's original work, this 
has an appendix giving several other articles and notes 



IXTKODUCTIOi^. • y 

by that author and several of his countrymen, the expe- 
rience of Francis Morris, of Maryland, extracts from the 
"American Agriculturist," besides a note giving "Con- 
clusions of the Translator," in which he says: "The 
first notice of this matter in this country seems to have 
been made in the '^American Agriculturist' of June, 
1875." As shown above, Mr. Brown was not exactly 
right as to the date, though quite correct as to the fact. 
Prof. M. Miles, then of the Illinois Industrial Uni- 
versity, in 1875 experimented in the preservation of 
broom-corn seed. He stored it in pits, just as turnips or 
other roots are stored, putting on a layer of straw, and 
covering this with some eight to twelve inches of earth. 
Pits put up in September were opened the following 
March, and were found in satisfactory condition ; where 
the covering was only eight inches deep, the outer portion 
was dry and moulded, forming a compact crust a few 
inches thick, but the interior was fresh and bright, while 
a covering of twelve inches of earth preserved it better. 
A sample of this ensilaged seed, sent to us at the time, 
was perfectly sweet, and had much the odor of brewers' 
grains. What may be the feeding value of these imma- 
ture seeds of Broom Corn is not determined ; cattle ate 
them readily, and there would appear to be no difficulty 
in keeping them perfectly well, should it be desirable. 

HOW IS THE FODDER PRESERVED? 

It is well known that a mass of green fodder, if loosely 
stacked up, will soon ferment, heat, and pass into decay. 
In the silo, the fodder is closely packed, and in an air- 
tight receptacle, and these conditions, instead of encour- 
aging decay, prevent it, and favor the preservation of the 
mass. Several chapters have been written on "The 
Chemistry of the Silo," but to understand them requires 



10 • SILOS AND Eis^SILAGE. 

a familiarity with chemistry not possessed by the average 
farmer and general reader. 

Every farmer knows that manure, another form of 
vegetable matter, if allowed free access of air, will fer- 
ment, heat, and decay. He also knows that manure, if 
kept under cattle or sheep, and daily trodden down 
through the winter, will come out in the spring quite 
unchanged. These are familiar illustrations of the well- 
known fact that the presence of air is necessary to decay, 
and that the complete exclusion of air tends to the pres- 
ervation of perishable substances. 

In the fodder corn we have a mass of succulent stems 
and foliage in which preparation has been made for the 
production of grain. These are filled with juices hold- 
ing in solution the material that would soon be deposited 
in the grain as starch, etc., but now largely in the form 
of sugar. When the corn plant is cut and packed in 
the silo, fermentation, the first step in decay, at once 
begins. By th 3 action of the oxygen of the air on the 
sugar and other contents of the stalks, etc., various 
changes take place, one of which is to produce Carbonic 
Acid. This acid is a gas, in which a candle can not burn 
or any animal live, and in which no further fermentation 
can occur. If the silo is air-tight, the very first steps in 
the fermentation of its contents produce a gas that acts 
as a preservative and prevents further change. The 
more compact the fodder corn, the less air will there be 
among it, and the sooner will the fermentation stop. 

The fermentation not only acts upon and changes the 
composition of the air within the silo, but the fodder 
itself is acted upon and changed. 

Sugar, when present in the juices of the corn, is at 
first converted into alcohol ; and if fermentation contin- 
ues far enough, acetic acid, or vinegar, will be formed 
from the alcohol thus produced. 

If the silo is properly air-tight, and its contents cut 



THE PROGRESS OF ENSILAGE. 11 

fine and well packed and carefully covered, there cannot 
be sufficient air present to allow fermentation to go on to 
an injurious extent. 

The fact that injury may occur to the contents of the 
silo from undue exposure to the air, should be kept in 
mind at every step in filling the silo and in feeding its 
contents. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PROGRESS OF ENSILAGE. 

Since this work first appeared, ensilage has passed the 
experimental stage, and has been adopted by so many 
farmers that it may be considered as an established 
method among many who devote themselves to dairy- 
ing. The number of silos in the United States in 1880 
is said to have been only six, while it is estimated 
that there are now about two thousand. In Enoland 
there were in 1880 only four silos, while now, Mr. M. J. 
Sutton, in his recent admirable work on *' Permanent 
and Temporary Pastures," estimates that there are be- 
tween eleven and twelve hundred. In England, the silo 
will come into competition with ordinary hay-making, 
allowing the farmer to secure his crops of grass and 
clover in very wet seasons more promptly and safely than 
he could as hay. In this country, on the other hand, 
ensilage will be mainly directed to the preservation of 
fodder corn, a crop of admitted value, but one which is 
on all hands regarded as very difficult to cure. In the 
Southern States, the silo will allow the farmer to pre- 
serve one of his most important crops, the Southern Cow- 
pea. This, which is regarded as most valuable as hay. 



12 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

is difficult to cure, as the large leaves are shaken off in 
the process, but packed in the silo, they would yield 
most valuable cattle food, probably equal in value to 
ensiloed clover. 

An important contribution to the literature of the silo 
is the report of *' Experiments on Ensilage, conducted at 
Kothamsted, season 1884-5, by Sir J. B. Lawes, LL. D., 
F. K. S., and J. H. Gilbert, LL. D., F. R. S." Eotham- 
sted as an experimental station has a world-wide reputa- 
tion, and the names of Lawes and Gilbert attached to 
any statement impart perfect confidence in its accurracy. 
Possessing ample means, their experiments are conducted 
on a scale large enough to be regarded as practical, and 
having no other object than to arrive at the real facts of 
the case, their conclusions are accepted as final. It 
would be well if some of those who in this country think 
they are making ** experiments," but are only guessing, 
could observe the accuracy and precision with which 
everything is weighed and measured at Rothamsted. This 
careful summing up of the experiments on ensilage will 
n(>t be likely to please the enthusiastic advocates of that 
method. Their conclusions from their exjDeriments are 
presented in twenty-two numbered paragraphs, the last 
four of which are as follows : 

'' 19. — There can be no doubt that good food may be 
preserved in a favorable state for future use by being 
properly ensilaged. But the results obtained at Rotham- 
sted do not favor the idea that produce which is itself 
not good food, can be made good food by being ensilaged. 

" 20. — Good ensilage, given in such amount as to sup- 
ply the same quantity of dry substances as would be 
given in chaff or roots, is no doubt a very good food for 
fattening oxen. 

^' 21. — Good ensilage, given in less proportion and in 
conjunction with roots, with the ordinary dry foods in 
addition, is no doubt a very good food for milking cows. 



EAISIKG FODDER CORN FOR ENSILAGE. 13 

'' 22. — In conclusion, it is hoped that the details which 
have been given of the first year's experiments on en- 
silage at Rothamsted will afford some useful basis for the 
consideration of those who may be deliberating whether 
or not to adopt the system." 



CHAPTER 11. 
RAISING FODDER CORN FOR ENSILAGE. 

To one about to undertake the preservation of fodder 
corn by ensilage, the important points are : growing the 
crop, building the silo, cutting and storing the fodder, 
and the methods of feeding. All preparation in the way 
of raising the crop must have been done some months 
earlier than the date of the publication of this work ; 
still, for the sake of completeness, we give a brief 
chapter on raising the crop. 

If, as now seems probable, the method of ensilage shall 
be generally adopted and incorporated in our system of 
agriculture, Ave shall soon be supplied with such imple- 
ments as will facilitate all the work relating to it. 

The readiness with which inventors and manufacturers 
have met the demand for cutting implements, is an indi- 
cation of what may be expected in other steps of the pro- 
cess, so soon as the needs are made known. Thus far, 
the experiments in cultivation and harvesting have been 
made with the implements and machines already in use 
on the farm. Not only may we look for new facilities in 
the mechanical appliances, but for improvements in the 
material, the kinds of corn best suited to the purpose. 



14 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

One about to experiment with ensilage is met at the 
outset by the question, ^^ What kind of corn shall I sow •? " 
Here European experience is of no value as a guide, as 
the varieties recommended there are not known here, and 
we no doubt already have kinds of corn better suited to 
the purpose than any known in Europe. 

In the majority of the experiments in this country, 
thus far, the variety sown has been the Southern White, 
or *^ Horse-tooth " Corn. A recent variety, ^^Blunt's 
Prolific," has been highly commended, and a special kind 
called *^ Mammoth Ensilage Corn" is advertised. 

The greatest possible weight to the acre of quickly- 
grown and succulent herbage is required. When the 
plant has completed its growth, and commences to pre- 
pare for a crop of seed, it then becomes woody ; the nu- 
tritive material in the stalk and leaves is diverted to the 
grain, and there deposited in a different form. 

The production of varieties best suited for ensilage 
will no doubt soon follow, if we have not already such. 
In January, 1881, the ^^ American Agriculturist " figured 
and described the '* Cuzco," or *' Peruvian Corn," which, 
by its rapid and gigantic growth before showing either 
tassel or ear, suggests that it may be useful in establishing 
a variety of maize for ensilage, either through acclimation 
by selection, or by crossing it upon other kinds of corn. 

The cultivation of fodder corn for ensilage is not dif- 
ferent from that where the crop is to be cured in the 
usual manner. The land being thoroughly prepared and 
highly manured, is laid out in rows, twenty to thirty-six 
inches apart, and the corn dropped four to eight kernels 
to the running foot, the distances dependmg upon the 
size of the variety. The subsequent culture is the same 
as usual. Several mention the great utility of the Thomas 
Smoothing Harrow in keeping the crop clean until it is 
eight to twelve inches high, or too tall for this treat- 
ment. Some have raised satisfactory crops without the 



LOCATION OP AKD BUILDING THE SILO. 15 

use of any other implement or tillage than that given by 
this harrow, the corn soon smothering the weeds. 

The precise condition in which the fodder should be 
harvested is not generally mentioned by those who have 
given accounts of their operations, the date being usually 
stated instead. Some say that they cut up. the fodder 
when ** in tassel," and others when the ears were '^ partly 
formed." We should naturally expect to find the plant 
itself the most nutritious just at flowering time, that is, 
when it has ^* silked"; how far beyond this it may stand 
with advantage, experiments are needed to determine. 

In cutting up the corn, the sickle or corn knife is 
generally preferred to a reaper, though we may expect in 
due time to find these hand implements superseded by 
more rapid machines, especially devised for the work. 



CHAPTEE III. 

LOCATION OF AND BUILDING THE SILO. 

If one were to lay out a plan for buildings with reference 
to feeding ensilage, he would make the silos the central 
point around which all the rest would be arranged. But 
our farms are already planned, the barns already built, 
hence the silos must come in and form a part of an estab- 
lished order of things. The silo is to preserve fodder 
which is to be fed at the barn, hence its location must be 
with reference to the most convenient feedino' of its con- 
tents. If, as is often the case, the barn has been built 
near a bank, then this bank may be utilized for the silo, 
placing this with reference to the feeding floor. The large 
silos of Whitman & Burrell, at Little Falls, N. Y., were 



16 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

SO built tliat tlie roof of the barn could be extended to 
cover the silos. In some cases it may be most convenient 
to build the silo within the barn, or, where a basement 
has been made for the reception of manure, it may be 
better to convert the basement into silos, and dispose of 
the manure elsewhere. 

So long as our experimenters are not yet agreed as to 
the best form of the silo, some holding that a deep and 
narrow one, in the form of a pit or well, is better than a 
long and shallow one upon the surface, the proper loca- 
tion is difficult to determine. The essential points to 
be observed in building a silo are given in the following 
pages, and a consideration of these may help in determin- 
ing the location. 

It must be borne in mind that the silo is to be filled 
and to be emptied. The filling is accomplished in a few 
days, while the emptying, by feeding out its contents, 
may extend through several months. Hence convenience 
in feeding the contents must, other things being equal, 
largely determine the location of the silo. 

BUILDING A SILO. 

It is unfortunate that the first accounts of ensilasfe 
were by those who were not obliged to regard expense, 
but, having abundant means, could construct such silos 
as seemed to be required. We may add here, that much 
is yet to be done in ^* Americanizing " the whole matter, 
and we have no doubt that the experiments now being 
made will greatly simplify, not only the building of the 
silo, but every other step in the method. The wealthy 
dairy man or other proprietor may make an investment 
of a few thousands, if he sees that it will give a good 
return in the feeding of his hundred or more cows, 
while the farmer with five cows, who all the more needs 
the benefits that this new method may bring, can not, as 



LOCATION OF AND BUILDING THE SILO. 17 

a general thing, afford the outlay of a few hundreds of 
dollars. Before going into the particulars of building, it 
may be well to consider what a silo is expected to do, 
whatever may be the plan. In speaking of ensilage, we 
now have reference to tbe preservation of fodder corn by 
the method though, as will be seen, other farm crops 
and products may be preserved in a similar manner. 
The fodder corn, cut small, is packed in a receptacle 
which is perfectly tight, so that it will not allow water to 
enter from without, or gases to escape from within. 
Could a glass jar be made of sufficient size it would be a 
perfect silo. Large capacity, with perfectly air-tight and 
water-tight walls, being the objects in view, the structure 
will vary according to the locality and surroundings. In 
some places a silo can be most cheaply built of stone ; in 
other places brick will be found the most available mate- 
rial. In other localities still, concrete will be cheaper 
than either stone or brick, and just as good. These, 
stone, brick, and concrete, are all well understood build- 
ing materials, and where one has the means to allow him 
to avail himself of them, are no doubt the best. But 
those who can not command either of these should not 
be deprived of the benefits of ensilage. There are several 
accounts of successful preservation of fodder corn in silos 
excavated in a bank of heavy clay soil, in which the 
fodder corn was packed directly against the earthern 
walls. We do not recommend this method, as there are 
many chances of failure. There are many localities 
where the soil is of such a character that cisterns for 
rain-water are built by making an excavation of proper 
size and shape, and covering its interior with one or more 
coats of cement mortar directly upon its earthern walls. 
Wherever cisterns of this kind may be built, a silo may be 
made in a similar manner. 

Another modification is possible in wooded countries, 
where log-barns and even log-houses are still built. A 



18 SILOS AKD ENSILAGE. 

silo may be laid up of logs as for a log-house, and by 
taking special pains with the ''^ chinking up," with clay, 
both inside and out, an air-tight and temporarily useful 
silo may be constructed. 

Silos have been built by partitioning off a space within 
the barn, using two thicknesses of boards, and placing a 
layer of tarred sheathing paper between the boards. It 
is not likely that a silo with wooden walls can last a great 
while, as a large mass of fermenting material in direct 
contact with the boards will soon cause them to decay. 

Another kind of silo is possible in lumber districts, 
where slabs are cheap. A frame may be made with slabs 
set up about a foot apart, to build a hollow wall, which 
is to be filled in with stiff, clayey soil, to be put in grad- 
ually and rammed down hard. By either of these, and 
other make-shifts, which are, of course, only offered as 
suggestions, those who can do no better may secure the 
benefits of ensilage, as well as those who can erect more 
permanent and more costly silos. 

A detached silo must be provided with a roof. In 
some cases it may be so placed that the roof of the barn 
can be continued to extend over the silo, and thus mate- 
rially lessen the cost of building. 

In building a silo, whether of brick, stone, concrete, or 
other material, drainage is not to be forgotten, for to be 
successful the silo must be not only air-tight but water- 
tight. In building with brick or stone, the services of a 
mason will usually be required. If the silo is of con- 
crete, there is nothing in its structure that can not be 
managed by a person of ordinary tact and ingenuity. 
Probably the larger number of silos built in this country 
will be of concrete, and, in view of the importance of 
the subject, we give a separate chapter on building con- 
crete walls. 



L0CATI02T OF AKD BUILDIN^G THE SILO. 19 

THE SIZE OF THE SILO 

Of course will be determined by the number of animals. 
The description of Whitman & Burrell's, and other large 
silos will give some idea of the larger structures. It is 
estimated that one cow requires for a year five hundred 
and fifty cubic feet of ensilaged fodder, and if the cows 
are pastured for half the year, then two hundred and 
seventy-five cubic feet will be sufficient. Mr. Bailey es- 
timates that to keep two cows for a year, a silo ten feet 
wide, long and deep will hold sufficient. A silo twelve 
feet wide, thirty feet long, and twelve feet deeji, he esti- 
mates will hold about eighty-seven tons, enough to win- 
ter twelve to fifteen cows. AVhere sbone is plenty, he 
thinks that a silo of this size can be built at a cost, be- 
sides the labor, of about fifty dollars. Silos have been 
made by digging a pit, putting in the fodder as in pitting 
roots, piling it as high as practicable, and then covering 
with earth. The difficulty in this case is, that in open- 
ing, the earth mixes with the fodder ; besides there is a 
trouble in keeping the covering tight as the contents set- 
tle ; this method might answer where straw is plenty, and 
a sufficient covering of that can be placed over the fodder 
before putting on the earth. 



20 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



CHAPTER IV. 
CUTTING AND STORING THE FODDER. 

While some have succeeded in preserving the fodder 
corn in pits without first cutting, it is generally conceded 
that it should be cut before storing. Already several ma- 
chines, to be driven by horse or steam-power, have been 
invented and are manufactured expressly for the purpose 
of cutting fodder corn for ensilage. 

THE PROPER SIZE TO CUT THE FODDER. 

The fodder has been cut by different experimenters in 
pieces varying from one inch down to one-fourth of an 
inch, the majority regarding three-eighths of an inch as 
the most desirable size. One object in cutting fine is to 
insure the most compact storage possible and consequent 
exclusion of air. The packing away should follow im- 
mediately upon the cutting, in order that the juices of the 
plant may not evaporate and be replaced by air. For the 
same reason, there should be the least possible delay 
between the field and the machine that is to cut it for 
the silo. As Dr. Bailey properly suggests, " tearing or 
shredding the stalks would be much better than cutting," 
and leads us to hope that a machine for this purpose may 
be forthcoming in due time. But at present the corn 
must be cut, and for this there is no lack of suitable 
appliances. 

That the size of the pieces is of importance in other 
respects than as regards the preservation of the fodder, 
is shown by a case that recently came to our knowledge. 
A friend informed us that one of his neighbors, who had 
succeeded admirably in preserving the fodder, found that 



CUTTIN^G AND STORING THE FODDER. 21 

after his cows had fed upon it for a while with eyident 
relish, they all at once seemed reluctant to eat it. An 
examination showed that the gums of the cows were 
badly cut and inflamed to such a degree that they were 
unable to chew the fodder. This trouble was found to 
be due to the fact that in the act of chewing, the short 
pieces of fodder would generally be bitten endwise, and 
the outer portions of the corn, which at the base of the 
stalk might get very hard, being presented endwise to the 
teeth, were so sharp as to lacerate the gums and the tender 
parts of the mouth. This gentleman pro^iosed to over- 
come the diflSculty by cutting the fodder longer ; if the 
pieces were longer than broad, the animal would take 
hold of them in the usual way and bite against the cir- 
cumference of the stalks rather than against the ends. 
It IS not probable that a difficulty of this kind could occur 
unless the base of the stalks had become too hard and 
firm for feeding in any form, and as many have fed the 
short-cut fodder without any trouble of this kind, it is 
a warning against letting the fodder get too old, rather 
than a caution not to cut it too fine. 

FILLING THE SILO. 

Experimenters generally agree that about two feet in 
depth daily is better than a more rapid- filling of the silo 
"v\ith the cut fodder. The form of the silo will govern 
the rapidity of filling somewhat : if narrow and deep, it 
may be necessary to fill in a greater depth daily. 

The importance of thoroughly compacting the fodder 
is strongly enforced by all who have had any experience. 
The fodder should be spread evenly, mixing leaves and 
stalks as thoroughly as possible, and as the work proceeds 
be trodden down very closely and firmly. Where the silo 
is of a size to allow it, horses or mules have been intro- 
duced to do the trampling. The usual custom is to keep 



22 SILOS AKD e:n"silage. 

one or two men in the silo to tramp down the fodder as 
fast as it comes from the cutter. If during the night the 
surface of the fodder in the silo has dried appreciably, it 
should, upon resuming the filling the next day, be wetted 
sufficiently to restore the original moisture ; this may be 
most conveniently done by the use of garden watering pots. 

COVERING THE SILO. 

When the silo is filled, six or eight inches of straw are 
laid over the top of the fodder, and upon this a covering 
of two-inch plank, cut so short that they cannot bind 
against the walls, as the contents settle. The plank cover 
is then heavily weighted with whatever material may be 
most available. Where large stones are at hand, these may 
be used ; logs will answer ; boxes filled with gravel or with 
earth, and even bags of grain have been used. Much of 
the success of the process depends upon having sufficient 
pressure. The weighting material must be of a kind that 
will allow of its removal in part without disturbing the 
rest. 

SALT AND STRAW. 

In the early experiments, salt was scattered among the 
fodder, but this is now abandoned, as it is not necessary 
to the preservation of the contents of the silo. 

In some cases cut straw has been mixed with the fod- 
der in filling the silo, some claiming that it is useful in 
absorbing superabundant moisture. On grain farms, 
where straw is abundant, it would be desirable to use a 
portion of it in this manner, but experiments are needed 
to show to what extent such a mixture may be made 
without injury to the corn fodder, by preventing that 
from being sufficiently compacted. One writer claims 
that the feeding value of straw thus mixed with fodder 
corn in the silo is greatly increased. This is one of the 



COKCEETE SILOS. 23 

unsettled points in ensilage, and one worthy of careful 
investigation. 

In some instances, where the quantity of fodder corn 
was not sufficient to fill the silo, hay, especially rowen, 
has teen used to complete the filling. This was put in 
as soon as cut, and when tlie silo was opened was found 
to be in most excellent condition. 



CHAPTER V. 
CONCRETE SILOS 

One of the best methods of laying concrete is by means 
of planks to form the mold to hold the mortar, the 
planks being held in place by posts set at the angles of 
the wall, and at other points if necessary, and by clamps, 
both the planks and the clamps being held in place by 
wedges, all of which is shown in the accompanying en- 
gravings. Figure 1 represents the planks in position, 
and the posts set, held together at their tops by strips 
nailed upon them, while at the ground they should be 
held in position by stakes and braces. Figure 2 is a 
diagram showing a section or ground plan of the same 
things ; a, h, in both figure 1 and figure 2, are iron 
clamps holding the middle of the planks in position in 
case they are likely to spread apart. Figure 3 is a rep- 
resentation of the walls while in process of erection. 

Planks, planed on the side towards the walls, are pro- 
vided sufficient for the entire circuit of the building, and 
when in position the space between them is filled with 
the mortar. When the mortar sets, which, with a pro- 
portion of cement it will do very soon, then the planks 



24 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



are raised and fixed in position by driving wedges between 
the posts and the wall, as shown in figures 4 and 5, in 
which a, a, are the wedges ; b, l, the planks ; c, a clamp 




Fig. 1. — THE ARKAKGEMENT OF THE POSTS. 

holding the planks together, and wedged on one side, and 
d, d, the posts. The posts will usually need to be braced 
well to prevent their springing when the wedges are 
driven tight enough to support the planks. 

Figure 4 shows a section of the wall and one post with 



CE 



R 



O/ 



lU 



^">^ 



a 



lU liJ 



Fig. 2. — AKBANGEMENT OP THE PLANKS. 

the wedges, as looked down upon, and figure 5 is a per- 
pendicular cross-section of the same, the letters refer to 



CONCRETE SILOS. 



25 



the same parts in both engravings. The door frames are 
introduced in their places and held by braces until the 
walls rise around them. 

Materials Used. — It is best, unless indeed some 
one in the neighborhood has had experience, to test be- 
forehand the proportions of sand, gravel, and lime, or 























Fiff. 3.— METHOD OP IxAYING THE CONCEETE. 



cement, which are best suited to the proposed work. 
There is so much difference in the various kinds of lime 
that proportions can only be given approximately. 

Roughly the p»oportions may be stated as one part lime 
to seven parts of other materials, half of v>"hich should be 
clean washed sand. When sufficient materials are accu- 
mulated upon the mixing board, they are first mixed dry 
by repeated shoveling, then the lime, slaked to a creamy 
consistency, is added, and well mixed through the whole, 
adding more water if necessary. The addition of one- 
fourth cement, the lime being reduced to three-fourths 
of one part, and the cement being added after the mortar 
2 



26 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



is mixed, makes a much quicker setting and harder con- 
crete. When all cement and no lime is used, but a small 
quantity can be mixed at a time, for it sets so quickly 
that it could not be placed in position before it became 
solid. The proportions for a smooth, solid concrete are : 
one part Portland cement to five parts sharp sand. If 










Figs. 4 and 5. — raising the planks. 

mixed rather liquid, one-third or more, often nearly or 
quite two-thirds, of the wall as completed, may consist 
of gravel and coarse broken stones, put in while the 
cement is being placed in the molds forming the walls. 

WHITMAN & BURRELL ON C0NCR|:TE SILOS. 



These gentlemen, in their paper on silos, given else- 
where, append the following directions for construct- 
ing a silo of concrete : First, having excavated for the 
silo, dig a trench all around the bottom and fill in 
with cobble stones, and from one corner lead a drain, 
if possible, so as to carry off all water. The trench 
under the proposed walls of the silo being filled with 



CONCRETE SILOS. 27 

cobble stones, place stan3ards of scantling long enough 
to extend twelve inches higher than the top of the wall 
when it is finished. Place these standards on each side 
of the proposed wall, and if you desire the wall to be 
twenty inches thick, then place the standards twenty- 
three inches apart, and place a pair of standards every 
five or six feet around the entire foundation. Be par- 
ticular to have these standards exactly plumb and exactly 
in line. Fasten the bottoms of the standards firmly in 
the ground, or by nailing a strip of wood across at the 
bottom of the standards, and a little below where the 
floor of the silo will be. Fasten the tops of the stand- 
ards by a heavy cross-piece, securely nailed, and fasten 
the pairs of standards in their plumb jDOsition by shores 
reaching the bank outside. Now take plank, one and a 
half inch thick and fourteen inches wide, and place tiiem 
edgeways inside the standards, twenty inches apart, thus 
forming a box fourteen inches deep, and running all 
along and around the entire foundation of the proposed 
wall. Fill this box with alternate layers of cobble stone, 
or any rough stone, etc. , and mortar or concrete. First, 
a layer of concrete mortar, and then a layer of stone, 
not allowing the stones to come quite out to the boxing 
plank, but having concrete over the edges, and the con- 
crete must be tamped down solid. Prepare the concrete 
as follows : Take one part of good cement, Portland is 
the best probably, and mix with this four parts of sand, 
and mix the cement thoroughly with the sand while dry, 
and then mix four parts of clear gravel ; make into a 
thin mortar, and use at once. Put into the box an inch 
or two of this mortar, and then bed in cobble stones ; 
then fill in with mortar, again covering the stones, and 
again put in a layer of stone. When the box is filled 
and the mortar ''set," so that the wall is firm, then raise 
the box one foot, leaving two inches lap of plank on the 
wall below, and go around again, raising the wall one foot 



28 SILOS AKD EITSILAGE. 

« 

eacli ^ay every second day, according to amount of labor 
at hand. If one-half the bulk of fine-slaked quick- 
lime is added to the water-lime, it will improve it, and 
costs but little. If Rosendale or Akron cement is used, 
instead of Portland, then the proportions should be as 
follows : One barrel of good live cement, three barrels of 
good sand, three barrels of good clean gravel. If no 
gravel is obtainable, then use five barrels of sand to one 
of cement, and bed in all the cobble stones possible. 
Stone with rough edges are better than smooth, as they 
bind the wall more thoroughly, but any flat ston-es found 
about fields will do as well. A layer of loose cobble 
stones should be placed against the outside of the wall 
before the earth is brought against it, so as to have an 
air space and a free passage for water. 



CHAPTER VI. 

EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTS IN ENSILAGE. 

The " American Agriculturist " for June, 1875, gave, 
so far as we are aware, the first full account of the Euro- 
pean methods of ensilage ; the article is here reproduced 
as a part of the history of the subject, and as giving the 
methods followed in Europe at that time. . . . The 
recent experiments in France and Germany in the pres- 
ervation and feeding of fodder of various kinds are of 
great value to our farmers. Their object is to economize 
the use of cattle food. In almost every department of 
industry it is the savings in labor and material that are 
cheapening the cost of production, and at the same time 
increasing the profits of the producers. In every opera- 



EUROPEAN" EXPEKIMEKTS IN" E:N^SILAGE. 



29 



tion in agriculture there is a vast scope for saving in both 
labor and materials. Our method of feeding stock is very 
wasteful ; the greater part of the fodder fed every winter 
is expended in merely keeping the cattle alive. A loss of 
weight or condition in all kinds of stock equal to from 
ten to sixty per cent is suffered every winter. There is 
no necessity for this ; stock may be kept increasing in 
weight during the winter, if the fodder is of the right 
kind and the stock is properly housed and protected. 
The feeding of poor, unpalatable fodder is the chief 
cause of this loss. The appetite needs to be stimulated 
at the season when the greatest draft is made upon the 
physical condition of the ani- 
mal ; and to meet this need 
there must not only be palata- 
ble or enticing food, but there 
must be plenty of it. Corn 
fodder is largely depended upon 
as food for stock over a great 
extent of country, and its use 
might be well nigh universal, 
as no forage plant is so easily 
grown as corn. Could it be pre- ^^- ^- ^^'^ ^^^^^^ covering. 
served fresh and green for six months or more, instead of 
curing it and using it dry, its value would be greatly in- 
creased. That it may be so preserved has been shown by 
experiment, and the process is claimed to be easy and 
very profitable. Of late years a great number of French, 
Belgian, and German farmers have adopted the plan, and 
some extensive stock-feeders have used it largely, with 
the most favorable results. Several communications by 
prominent farmers and professors of agriculture in farm 
schools have been made to the ^^ Journal of Practical 
Agriculture," of Paris, from which the following facts 
have been condensed, and, by the aid of the illustrations, 
the methods in use may be learned. In figures 6, 7, and 




30 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



8 are . shown the pits, or silo3, as they are filled with the 
cut corn fodder, then covered with earth and pressed 
down with its weight, and finally as the cut fodder has 
shrunk through fermentation to less than half its ori- 
ginal bulk. These pits are about seventy-five feet long, 
nine feet wide above, six feet wide at the bottom, and 
six feet deep. The sides and ends are built up of masonry 
laid in cement. In these pits the corn-stalks are laid 
evenly with care in layers of about eight inches thick, 
after having been cut and exposed to the sun for two or 
three days. During this time the stalks lose, by expos- 





Fig. 7.— PIT AFTEE COVERrNG. 



Fiff. 8.— PIT APTER SIX MONTHS. 



ure to the sun, two-fifths of their weight when first cut. 
A quantity of salt is scattered over every layer equal to 
about sixty-six pounds for each pit. [N. B. It should 
be borne in mind that this is an account of the early 
experiments ; the previous drying and the use of salt are 
now abandoned. Late experience has shown that the 
more succulent the fodder, the better it will keep. — Ed.] 
The three pits hold about eighty tons, or seventy-five 
thousand kilos, of green fodder. The fodder is heaped 
up, as shown in figure 6, to a hight of six feet above the 
surface of the ground, and then covered with earth to a 
thickness of two or three feet. On the 14th of Septem- 
ber, 1872, this work was finished. On the 15th of April 



EUEOPEAiq^ EXPERIMENTS 11^ ENSILAGE. 



31 



following, one pit was opened, and the fodder was found 
in perfect condition, except for an inch or two upon the 
surface and the sides, where it was black and decayed. 
Its color was yellow, its odor agreeable, but the stalks 




had lost all their sweetness, and had acquired some de- 
gree of acidity. Twenty-four beeves were then fed about 
nine hundred pounds daily of the preserved fodder, or 
nearly forty pounds per head on the average, which was 



32 SILOS AI^D EITSILAGE. 

equal to about sixty pounds of fresh green fodder. The 
fodder was eaten with great relish, and only some por- 
tions of the harder stalks were left. Tiie second pit was 
consumed July 3d, haying been preserved equally well 
with the first. The third was not opened until the 20th 
of April, 1874, eighteen months after covering. The 
fodder was in as good order as that from the other pits, 
excepting that the discolored and decayed layer was 
somewhat thicker in this pit than in the others ; a result 
attributed in a great degree to the gravelly and porous 
character of the covering earth, the preservation being 
due solely to the exclusion of air. In this instance the 
fodder was preserved whole, and the cost of cutting 
avoided. But when the fodder has to be cut for final 
use, it has been found an economy to cut it before it is 
stored. This system has been adopted by M. Piret, the 
manager of a large estate owned by M. A. Houette, at 
Bleneau, in Belgium. From his statement we find that 
he made a small experiment in 1868 which was perfectly 
successful, the cut fodder being withdrawn from the pit 
in 1869 in excellent condition. In 1870 two pits of 
masonry were erected above ground, protected at the 
sides only by banks of earth. They were found equally 
serviceable with those sunk below the surface, and much 
more convenient. Following the statement of this gen- 
tleman closely, we learn that by the aid of about four 
hundred and fifty pounds of superphosphate of lime per 
acre, he has obtained, on fairly good soil, seventy-five 
tons per acre of green fodder, although the average of 
his crop was not more than forty-five tons per acre ; two 
hundred and fifty tons of this was cut by a fodder cutter 
driven by horse-power, cutting two tons per hour, and 
stored in the pits as follows. The pit was built as shown 
in figure 9, which represents the section, a dividing 
wall in the center separating it into two parts. The cut 
fodder, falling into the pit, was carried in baskets upon 



EUROPEAif EXPERIMEi^TS IJS^ EKSILAGE. 



33 



a truck on a portable railway to the end of the pit, where 
it was packed away in sections formed by a movable par- 
tition, and trampled down tightly, salt at the rate of 




about two pounds to the ton of fodder being added. This 
pit is seen in figure 10, which represents it in a longitu- 
dinal section, and in figure 11, which shows it in plan, 



34 



SILOS A2fD ENSILAGE. 



and in- which one division is seen filled, and the other in 
course of filling. When the pits are filled, the fodder is 
covered with a layer of fine clay, nine inches thick, well 




beaten down. In these figures the parts are shown by 
the following letters : B, is the fodder cutter ; C, th'e 
rail track ; D, the exterior walls ; E, the division wall ; 
F, the filled compartment ; G, that iu course of filling ; 



■ EUROPEAIT EXPERIMENTS IN^ ENSILAGE. 35 

H, the movable partition with a transverse bar, P, which 
holds it in position ; /, the truck. The pit is shown in 
figure 9, as covered with a roof of boards as protection 
from the weather, a measure of economy strongly recom- 
mended by M. Piret. In this figure the covering of clay 
is shown on the top of the fodder. This is beaten down 
frequently, as it may become cracked or disturbed by the 
settlement of the mass beneath. 

The cost of the process here described is represented 
as being about three dollars per ton, including the cut- 
ting, carrying, curing, and feeding of a crop equal to 
nearly fifty tons per acre of green fodder, fifty thousand 
kilos per hectare. This enormous yield appears almost 
incredible to us, being a ton to less than four square 
rods ; still we can not doubt but such a yield is not only 
frequent, but that it is sometimes surpassed. It goes to 
show that in the cultivation and use of this, our most 
common crop, we come far short of the possible yield, 
notwithstanding our favorable climate and the necessity 
of every available economy to cheapen or increase its 
production. 



36 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



CHAPTER VII. 
MESSRS. BUCKLEY'S EXPERIENCE IN ENSILAGE. 

BY M. C. WELD, IN "AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST." 

The good result which many persons obtained last year 
in pitting corn fodder, leads this year to the making of 
many pits, or silos, for this purpose, all over the country. 




Mj&^^A^^^ 



Fig. 12.— SECTIONAL VIEW OF STABLES AND FODBER 



PITS. 



So that if there is the least question as to the utility of 
tills process for the preservation of corn fodder, it will 
be soon set at rest by a thousand experimenters. 

I was much interested in witnessing the filling of the 
pits built by the Messrs. Buckley Brothers, of Port Jervis, 
K. Y., whom I visited about the middle of September. 



•MESSRS. BUCKLEY'S EXPERIENCE IN ENSILAGE. 37 

It has been their habit for many years to put in a large 
area of sowed corn, which was cut and put up for curing 
in stooks, and afterwards housed or stacked near the 
barns. This year they have a larger area than usual, a 
large part of which they put down in pits for winter 
feeding. This matter of pitting or ensilaging corn 
fodder has been carefully inyestigated by them, and they 
have made, this year, two pits under the cow-barn floor. 
These pits, figure 12, are twenty-two feet long, nine feet 
wide, and fifteen and a half feet deep, side by side, with 
a two-foot wall between them. They are walled all 




Fig. 13.— FLOOR PLAN OF BAEN, CATTLE STA.BLES, ETC. 

around, and cemented water-tight. They would answer 
well as cisterns. These two are just built, but there is 
an old one, ten feet wide, fifty feet long, and seven feet 
deep, which is under the feeding floor. The location of 
these pits is shown in the accompanying plan, figure 13. 
The cow-barn is one hundred and twenty feet long, by 
thirty feet wide. The feeding floor is ten feet wide, and 
the standing space for the cows is the same width on 
each side. There is room for thirty-six cows in this 
stable, up to the barn floor. The floor, the stalls, and all, 
from side to side, was taken up for the filling of the pits, 
but was relaid. 
• At the time I was there the work of filling was going 



158 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

on in full blast. A pair of powerful mules were at work 
in the horse-power. The feed-cutter stood directly be- 
hind them, and cut the stalks in half-inch pieces, at the 
rate of two tons an hour. It required three men to tend 
the cutter, taking the corn from the wagon, feeding it to 
the cutter, and seeing that it was properly shunted off 
into the pits, where one man spread it as evenly as pos- 
sible and trampled it down. At noon and evening half- 
a-dozen men got into the tanks, and trampled the fodder 
down as firmly as they could. One man and one team 
were required to haul the fodder from the field. As soon 
as a wagon load was brought into the barn, the team was 
ungeared and hitched to the empty wagon. In the field, 
the teamster assisted in the loading. There were three 
men in the field cutting up the corn and loading the 
wagon. Thus the labor required was as follows : Two 
teams and one driver, four men in the barn, and three in 
the field ; eight men in all. With this force they were 
putting in about twenty tons a day. 

The stalks were rather dry ; the juice did not squirt 
out of them when they went through the cutter, and the 
chaflfings were not even moist to the touch. When 
packed in the pits, a strong fermentation sets in very 
soon. The corn that had been packed the day before 
was steaming hot, no doubt having a temperature of one 
hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty degrees 
Fahrenheit. It had a vinous odor, which was very 
sweet and pleasant. Mr. Charles Buckley gave us 
the figures of the cost of these two pits, which is as 
follows : 

Digging, 113 days work at $1 $112.00 

Masons' bill 94.44 

Men to assist the masons, twelve days work 12.00 

Bill for lime and cement 78.10 

Total outlay $296.54 

This does not include anything for stone, for the stones 



MESSRS. Buckley's experience ij^ en^silage. 39 

taken out of the pit were sufficient for the walls, and 
more too. Neither is any charge made for superinten- 
dence, and no doubt it would be fair to add fully ten per 
cent for the supervision and actual labor, which at one 
time or another the farmer himself gave, or say three 
hundred and twenty-five dollars in all. There were 
fifty barrels of cement used, and about half as much 
lime, part of which, eight barrels, was very good, and 
the rest, fifty bushels, cheap and of a low grade. 
The proportion of sand to cement and lime in the 
mortar with which the walls were laid up, was about 
two-thirds, but in coating over the surface, to make the 
whole water-tight, nearly pure cement was used. Thus 
the pits were filled, each one receiving its quota of ten 
tons, more or less, being well trodden down, allowed to 
settle over night, and again trodden down in the morning 
before work, all hands being engaged in the trampling. 
When full as possible, settled and trampled, and begin- 
ning to heat in the top layers, it is covered with six 
inches of long rye straw, any other straw will answer, 
and this, with a layer of planks, cut to fit crossways, but 
not so long as to bind. Stones are piled, or rather laid, 
upon the planks, so that fully one hundred pounds to the 
square foot rests upon the fodder. Thus it is left for 
winter use. Filled full, one of these pits will hold sixty 
tons. That is, containing as they do over three thou- 
sand cubic feet, or two thousand four hundred bushels, 
at fifty pounds to the bushel, which the compressed, 
moist, and almost solid fodder will weigh ; this is equal 
to one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, or sixty 
tons. 

As to the keeping, there can be no question, if the 
work is properly done. A brisk fermentation comes on, 
as we have seen, as it does in a tub of apple pulp for 
making cider. If the air has very slight access it will go 
on to ultimate decay ; but if it is kept out, the little air 



40 SILOS AKD EKSILAGE. 

at first present is driven off by the carbonic acid gas 
which is formed, and the mass ceases to ferment, and re- 
mains as if it were in an air-tight case. There is, how- 
ever, a shght access of air uj)on the surface, and its action 
upon the juices in the straw and upper layer of fodder is 
just enough to maintain an atmosphere of carbonic gas 
over the mass, and in the straw, which is like a rubber 
blanket, confined as it is beneath the planks. The stable 
will be replaced over the pits, and when the time comes 
for feeding there will be no going out in storms and 
*' slush" and ice to haul in the fodder from out-of-door 
pits, but the floor will be taken up over a sufficient space, 
and enough feed removed from one end for two days, 
when it will be packed down again and covered closely. 
I think rubber blankets, tarpaulins, canvas, or any coarse 
cloth painted with boiled oil, would be excellent to pack 
close down upon the fodder to exclude the air. One 
thing strikes me as very important, and that is, to know 
for a certainty that there is no settling of carbonic acid 
gas in the pit, after a considerable opening is made. A 
man going into a place filled with this gas, as often occurs 
in deep wells, is overpowered before he knows it, falls, and 
drowns as surely as if he were under water, and is even 
less likely to be resuscitated. The way to know whether 
a man can enter with safety, is to lower a lantern, which, 
if it burns freely, shows that there is not a dangerous 
proportion of gas in the air of the pit. 



WHITMAN & BUREELL'S SILOS. 41 

CHAPTER VIII. 
WHITMAN & BURRELL'S SILOS. 

Among the most enterprising experimenters with en- 
silage are Messrs. Whitman & Burrell, dairymen at Little 
Falls, N. Y. They have given very full accounts in 
their local paper, the '' Little Falls Journal and Courier," 
from which we quote the essential portions of their article 
describing their silos : 

Our new bam and silo are located on a side-hill. The 
barn is ninety-two feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and has 
three floors : First, the cow stable in the basement, nine 
feet high, two rows of stanchions, twenty feet space 
between the rows. About three feet four inches back 
from the stanchions is a wrought-iron grating, three feet 
three inches wide, after the plan of Prof. E. W. Stewart, 
upon which the hind feet of the cows stand. Under the 
grating is a trench, three feet two inches wide, and 
twenty-eight inches deep ; this is laid in cement, and is 
water-tight. All droppings from the cows pass through 
the grating, and the urine is all saved, as well as the solid 
excrement. There is a drive-way, eight feet Avlde, be- 
tween these gratings. Sections of the gratings are on 
hinges, and can be turned up, and the manure from the 
pit loaded on to the sleigh or wagon. The vault has to 
be cleaned out once in three or four weeks. Cows are 
kept perfectly clean and dry, and we think the arrange- 
ment is a good thing. 

On the floor above the cows, also nine feet high, and 
the same size as the cow stable, is the granary and room 
for storage of all agricultural tools, implements, and 
machinery. This floor also has entrances so that a team 
can be driven in at one end and out at the other. The 



42 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

floor above is the main barn floor, and entrance is from 
the side-hill right into the center of the barn. The silo 
is on the hill-side next to the barn, thus ; 

Drive-way to Silo. Silo. 

w 

(> : 

§ : 27x16x20 27x16x20 



Babn, 93x36. 



The bottom of the silo is on a level with the cow- 
stable floor, and there are entrances into the silo from 
both the cow-stable and the floor above. The top of the 
silo is on a level with the upper or main floor of the 
barn, so that the fodder can be taken out on either of 
the three floors of the barn. You will appreciate the 
convenience of this arrangement. The silo is built of 
stone ; the walls are three feet thick next to the bank, 
and two feet thick next to the barn ; the roof of the barn 
extends over the silo. All around the walls twelve inches 
of cobble stone are filled in from top to bottom, so as to 
prevent any water lodging against the walls. Capacity of 
entire silo about four hundred tons, or two hundred tons 
for each compartment. 

On June 1st we put in about seven acres of corn, with 
a drill, rows twenty-one inches apart, and dropping six 
or eight kernels to a foot. In September we cut the same, 
hauled to the silo as fast as we cut in the field, and with 
a feed cutter of the largest size, or next to largest size, we 
cut, at the rate of over one hundred loads per day, into 
pieces three-sixteenths to one-quarter of an inch in 
length, which was evenly distributed in the silos and 



WHITMAN & BURRELL's SILOS. 43 

trodden down. The corn was large^, stalks twelve to 
fourteen feet liigli, single ones weighing five to five and 
a half pounds, with ears on full of milk. Into one silo 
we put sixteen feet, and into the other eleyen feet. As 
soon as filled, one taking three days and the other four, 
we put on the covers. These are of plank, three feet 
wide, sixteen feet long, and two inches thick, fitting to- 
gether closely ; and upon these covers we put fifty tons 
of stone to each silo, the stone having been picked up on 
the farm. Within a week one had settled to twelve and a 
half feet and the other to eight and a half feet. 

On the 26th of October we opened the silo having 
eight and a half feet of ensilage, and found the fodder as 
green and sweet as when first put in. We used no straw 
under the covers, and yet right next to the boards the 
corn was all right. We have fed the stock since October 
26th, and they are all right, looking and feeding well. 
One cubic foot of ensilage weighs forty-seven pounds. 
We are feednig sixty-five pounds to each cow per day, 
with four pounds of middlings and half a pound of oil- 
meal, or cotton-seed meal. We had, before we began feed- 
ing the ensilage out to the stock, two hundred and twelve 
tons, and the exact cost of harvesting it, filling the silos, 
putting on stone, etc., was two hundred and seventeen 
dollars, allowing full wages for our own time, etc. We 
are now going to feed fifty to fifty-five pounds to each 
cow per day, and increase the gram to about six or seven 
pounds for the cows still giving milk, and half as much 
to the dry ones. 

This two hundred and twelve tons from seven acres, 
or a little over, is a large result, and is equal to seventy 
odd tons of hay, costing but three dollars per ton, or ten 
tons to the acre. We believe that by putting all the 
manure back on the seven acres of land that we can get 
up to forty and possibly fifty tons to the acre. We see 
no reason now why the cows that are being fed on en- 



44 SILOS AKD ENSILAGE. 

silage will not continue to do well in coijdition and prod- 
net, and our plan now is to raise about fifteen acres of 
corn next season, 1881, and this will be sufiBcient to fill 
tlie silos full, giving us four hundred tons, and this will 
keep forty cows three hundred and sixty-five days ; but 
as we shall pasture all of the side-hill during the summer 
season, about twenty acres, the pasture will also grow 
better, because the cows will drop more upon it than they 
take from it. We think we can give the cows all they 
will eat, morning and evening, of the ensilage, and keep 
in this way fifty head the year round on fifteen acres of 
corn and twenty acres of hill-side pasturage. We, how- 
ever, immediately after taking off the corn early in Sep- 
tember, plowed up the stubble and put in winter rye. 
This came up finely, and we will top-dress it this winter, 
and early in the spring give it a good bushing in. We 
expect to cut the rye by June 1st or 5th, and cut that up 
the same as we do the corn and store it in one of the 
silos, then immediately plow the same seven acres and 
put in corn ; whether this will work remains to be seen. 
But we have full confidence in the perpetual fertility of 
this corn land, because it is to be replenished, not only 
with what grew upon it, but from the grain fed with the 
ensilage : for, by the plan we have adopted, the liquid 
manure is as perfectly saved as the solid, and the most 
accurate experiments show that the fertilizing matter of 
the liquid is greater than in the solid manure. Prof. 
Stewart reports that he has found the manure from one 
cow, standing upon the self-cleaning platform, carried 
fresh to the field, the liquid all absorbed by the soil, 
equal to the manure from three cows saved in the old 
way, by throwing into a pile and carrying it to the field 
months afterward. In fact, there is no fertilizing matter 
wasted or lost, except that carried off in the milk. 

The beauty of the system is, that, instead of spreading 
the manure from forty or fifty cows over two hundred 



WHITMAN & BUREELL'S SILOS. 45 

acres, we use it all on the fifteen acres that furnish the 
fodder, and shortly the land must become yery rich, and 
then we can use the manure on other land. If we were 
to build a silo on level land, we would excavate ten or 
twelve feet below the surface, and then let the walls of 
the silo run up ten feet, using the earth that was excav- 
ated to make a bank about the walls above ground. We 
would locate the silo close to the barn, making the top 
of the silo on a level with the barn floor over the cows ; 
then, in feeding out the silo, the fodder could be easily 
raised with any of the same appliances used for raising 
and carrying hay, and with a track running to the 
shutes, the car could be dumped so that the fodder would 
be deposited in front of the stock. The Avails of the silo 
should be perfectly plumb and parallel, so that the fol- 
lowers, although fitting closely, can settle without bind- 
ing when loaded with stone. As you build the silo walls, 
point up as you proceed, both inside and outside, and 
then plaster the entire inside, bottom as well as sides, 
with Portland cement, as it is necessary that the silo 
should be water-tight, like a cistern. 

A cheaper way to build a silo, and one which Prof. E. 
W. StcAvart, of the '^Live Stock Journal," advocates, is 
to build it of water-lime concrete. 

We think that stone walls two feet thick, plastered 
with Portland cement, are better than concrete, and 
where people can afford to build of stone they had better 
do so. In regard to the size of silos, we would make them 
twenty feet deep, and put them as much below ground as 
possible, if good drainage can be had, banking up around 
the outside with the earth that is excavated, as before 
stated. A silo thirty feet by sixteen feet, and twenty 
feet deep, will be large enough to contain two hundred 
tons of pressed ensilage, and this would keep thirty-five 
cows six months, feeding about sixty pounds per day. 
For one hundred cows, we would advise building a silo 



46 SILOS AN"D ENSILAGE. 

one hundred feet long, dividing ifc into three compart- 
ments by means of two cross walls, and then feed- out 
one at a time. This would provide an empty silo in the 
spring, which would be ready for the winter rye, clover, 
June grass, etc., Hungarian can't be grown early, which 
could be harvested early in June, cut up same as the 
corn fodder, and stored in the silos for summer feeding. 
Our ideas are, that it is best to give the stock a good 
feed from the silos every morning and night during the 
summer in addition to pasturage. Now, as to whether 
people can afford to put in silos, etc. , we can only say 
that on our upland farm we had, at the beginning of win- 
ter, two hundred tons of hay. If we had put in fifteen or 
twenty acres of corn, and cut and stored it in the silos, 
we would now have been able to have spared all of the 
two hundred tons of hay, and, as the price is now 
extreme, twenty dollars per ton, we would have received 
for it enough to have paid all expenses of building both 
barn and silo, besides raising and harvesting the corn 
fodder, and we should have had fully as much manure 
to put back on the farm as we will have now in feeding the 
hay. But even if hay was but eight dollars to ten dol- 
lars per ton, it would pay to put in the corn crop for 
ensilage, and build the silo to contain it. The stock 
would be kept as well upon the ensilage as upon hay, and 
give as much manure, and the hay, if it were sold at eight 
dollars to ten dollars per ton, would pay all expenses the 
first year. The right kind of corn for seed costs eighty- 
five cents to one dollar per bushel, and we hope to get a 
feed-cutter capable of cutting ten to twelve tons per 
hour, or one hundred tons per day, for about one hundred 
and fifty dollars, and not require over a two-horse tread 
power to run it. Corn ensilage is probably not a perfect 
food for cows in milk. Linseed meal, or cotton seed 
meal, with bran or oat meal, will produce a good flow of 
milk. Fifty-five or sixty pounds of ensilage food, with 



ENSILAGE 11^ HUN^GAET. 47 

three pounds of linseed meal, and four pounds of bran, 
will answer satisfactorily. 



CHAPTER IX. 
ENSILAGE IN HUNGARY. 

The preservation of green fodder crops has long been 
practised in several countries of the Continent of Europe, 
by essentially the same process as that now termed ensi- 
lage, but under the names of " Sour Hay," and ^^ Sour 
Keep." In Germany, clover has long been preserved in 
this manner, and especially have the leaves of the Sugar 
Beet been kept in pits for winter feeding. 

In October, 1873, the '* American Agriculturist" pub- 
lished an article from its correspondent G. C, a farmer 
in Hungary, entitled 

" SOUR-FODDER MAKING," 

the essential portions of which, with the engraving are 
here given : " Although the writer is not acquainted with 
American farming except by reading of the * American 
Agriculturist,' nevertheless I communicate a method of 
preservation of juicy fodder peculiarly important for 
corn-producing America. 

** The corn is sown broadcast, or drilled in rows nine 
to eighteen inches apart, two metzens to one Austrian 
joch, or about 3.3 hectolitre to one hectare. [This 
is nearly three and a half bushels to the acre. — Ed.] 
The cultivation remains the same ; the field must be kept 
free from weeds. At blossom time the corn is mown, 
loaded into wagons, and hauled in. The home-brought 



48 



SILOS AlTD EKSILAGE. 



corn is put in large ditches, German Griibe, Mietlie, ten 
or twenty rods long, and is here j)ressed in by a few men 
walking on the green corn. The engraving, figure 14, 
will explain the whole. The ditch is twelve feet deep, 
twelve feet wide at the top, and six feet at the bottom. 
The length will need to be sufficient to contain the fod- 
der to be preserved. The ditch must be dug in dry 
ground. When the ditch is filled, the green corn is built 
like a stack upwards about ten feet over the level of the 




Fig. 14. — SECTION OF HUNGAKIAN DITCH. 

ground, as shown in the engraving. The finished stack 
is then covered with earth about two feet thick on every 
side. It is best to cover the top of the stack at first, be- 
cause the weight of the earth pressing down the green 
corn, so much earth is not needed for covering as is the 
case when the sides are covered at first. 
■ "This sour-hay making enables us to store a large 
quantity of juicy fodder for the winter, and if well 
covered with earth it may be stored for a few years with- 
out any injury. The most important of all is, the beasts 
being once acquainted with this sour-hay, like it very 



EKSILAGE IN^ HUNGARY. 49 

much. With us, in Hungary, the sour-hay is cut and 
mixed with com meal, or some other ground grain, and 
given to the cattle ; but the sour-hay may be fed uncut 
also. 

'* In sections where stones and bricks are to be obtained 
cheaply, the sides of the ditch may be walled, but it is 
not necessary. 

*' I should be very glad if these lines would serve to 
encourage the sour-hay making of corn by the American 
farmers. " 

ENSILAGE OF ROOTS. 

The following year the '^ American Agriculturist," 
published, in August, 1874, another article from the same 
Hungarian correspondent, in which he describes the 
preservation of beets with chaff, giving this also the 
name of ** sour-fodder." "The chief necessity of every 
dairy farm, or cheese and butter factory, is to feed a juicy 
food to the cows at every season of the year ; this is 
easily provided for in the spring, summer, and autumn, 
by feeding green rye, wheat, clover, a mixture of oats 
and peas, corn, etc., but in the winter Ave have no other 
milk-producing fodder than beets and corn sour-hay. It 
is known to every farmer, how difficult is the preserving 
of roots in the winter, and that large quantities of them 
are injured and therefore spoil. To avoid this, we cure 
the beets and other roots with chaff into sour-fodder. 
This method of using root-fodder has been in use on 
large farms in Hungary for some years, and has ahvays 
been successful. The method of making this so-called 
sour-fodder is as follows : at first we have a ditch made 
in a dry place [the ditch may be of the dimensions already 
given for corn fodder. — Sd.] When the beets are taken 
up in the usual manner they are hauled in, washed, and 
cut with a machine. Then the pit may be divided into 
3 



50 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



sections, for instance, for a length of ten rods into five 
sections, and by this division the labor is very much 
facihtated, because the first section can be covered with 
earth, while the second section is being filled. When a 
certain quantity of beets are cut, we place at first a layer 
of chaff upon the ground of the first section, upon this 
chaff is placed a layer of cut beets, in the proportion of 
one pound of chaff to ten pounds of cut beets ; these two 
layers are then solidly mixed with a fork ; after having 
done so, a layer of chaff and beets is again laid down, 
and again well mixed. This is repeated until the mixture 
reaches the top of the ditch ; then it must be built up- 




Fiir. 15. - PIT OF BEETS AND CHAFF. 



ward from six to nme feet above the level of the ground. 
On the top of the stack are laid a few sheaves of rye- 
straw, to prevent the fodder being mixed with earth ; 
then the first section is covered with earth, commencing 
the covering at first on the top of the stack. When the 
first section is finished, the second and all following sec- 
tions are managed in the same manner, as above described; 
when the whole ditch is filled, we take care that the stack 
is covered on every side witli one and a half to two feet 
of earth. This sour-fodder, mixed with corn meal or 



THE EI^'SILAGE OF BREWERS' GRAII^S. 51 

other feed, will be relished by the daintiest beast. The 
engraving, figure 15, shows the whole arrangement. The 
first and second section of the ditch is filled, the first one 
is also covered with earth." 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ENSILAGE OF BREWERS' GRAINS. 

In an article published in the ^'American Agriculturist," 
there was given a description of a silo for the preserva- 
tion of Brewers' Grains. This was attached to a dairy 
barn at Katonah, Westchester Co., N. Y., and had at 
that time been in sijccessful use for many years. The 
silo in this case is square and deep, and attached to the 
barn. The engraving, figure 16, shows the shape and 
method of construction of the silo, and at figure 17, the 
manner in which it is used. It will be seen that the only 
difference between the operation of this and the French 
silo, is, that the former has not so dense and compact a 
covering as the latter. A very close covering is not so 
essential with brewers' grains, as with corn fodder, be- 
cause they pack much closer and exclude the air better 
than the looser corn stalks ; but when the latter are cut 
up into chafi, and thoroughly well pressed down, a mere 
covering of planks, nicely jointed upon the edges, would 
be sufficient for the exclusion of the air from the mass 
below. It is always preferable to cut the fodder into 
pieces, not longer than one inch, for the reason that it 
then packs more closely and the preservation is more com- 
plete. The silo, shown in figure IG, consists of a sort of 
basement cellar, with the door opening into the cow- 



52 



SILOS AKD EKSILAGE. 



stable, and the rear sunk for the most part beneath the 
ground ; a road passes to the end of it, where there is a 
door, shown by dotted lines, for the purpose of receiving 
the grains. The walls are of stone, and the floor is of 
cement. The silo is covered with an ordinary shingle 
roof. The grains are packed in solidly, until they reach 
the level of the door at the top, when they are covered 
with boards, and some straw is thrown over the boards. 




Fig. 16.— METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE SILO. 

When the grains are required, the lower door is opened, 
and the grains, as fresh as when put in, but somewhat 
sour, are dug out for use. As the mass is cut away, 
nothing is done to the surface which is left exposed to the 
air ; but as the grains are very quickly used in this large 
dairy, there is not time for them to be injured, and the 
surface is made fresh every day by the removal of what 
was left exposed the day before. The same method may 
be applied to the preservation of corn fodder. As cut 



THE EI^SILAGE OF BREWERS' GRAINS. 



53 



green fodder lies in a looser and more open mass than 
grains, it would be necessary to have a cover as nearly ini- 
■pervious to air as possible, for use when the silo is opened 
and the preserved fodder is in course of consumption. 
This maybe easily done by means of wide planks, jointed 
smoothly at the edges, which should be laid upon the 
face of the mass of fodder as it is cut away. Pins may 
be inserted in a few of these planks, upon which another 




Fiff. 17. — MANNER OF COVEKING. 



plank may rest, and the whole cover may then be pressed 
tightly against the fodder by means of a piece of timber 
placed with one end against the wall, and the other end 
resting upon the cross-plank, and thus made to act as a 
wedge. This is shown in figure 17; It will be necessary 
to cut away the mass of fodder smoothly and regularly, 
leaving an even surface for the planks to rest against. 



54 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

CHAPTER XL 
THE ENSILAGE OF OTHER CROPS THAN CORN. 

The experiments with ensilage have been, in this coun- 
try, at least, so generally made with Indian corn, that, 
in the popular mind, the term is understood to refer to 
the preservation of that crop. Eeference has already 
been made to the preservation of other crops, and some 
examples have been given, including one of the success- 
ful preservation of Brewers' grains for a series of years in 
a receptacle that is essentially a silo. 

In Germany and France, where large areas are devoted 
to the cultivation of the Beet as a source of sugar, the 
closest economy is observed in every step. Indeed, the 
success of this culture depends largely upon the proper 
expenditure of the beet-root pulp after the factory has 
extracted the sugar, or all that it can profitably remove. 

Frost greatly diminishes the yield of sugar ; hence the 
beets are topped and harvested before there is any danger 
from this source. As a consequence, the leaves are in 
excellent condition, being in nearly full growth. While 
beet-leaves, and especially beet-pulp, contain a large 
amount of earthy matter, salts of various kinds, that 
unfit them as an exclusive food for animals, they are of 
great value when properly mixed with feed of other 
kinds, and their preservation is an important matter to 
the farmer who cultivates the sugar-beet. The great 
mass of beet-tops can not be fed out before it would 
spoil, and ensilage comes in as an important aid in its 
preservation. From the accounts given in European 
works it appears that the beet leaves are merely packed 
away in pits, and directly in contact with the earth. 

The farmer who delivers his beets at the sugar factory 



.THE EKSILAGE OF OTHER CROPS THAN^ CORN. 55 

bargains for the return of the pulp, and this valuable 
cattle food has also been preserved with success by bury- 
in 2; it in a similar manner. 

The Beet-sugar industry :s making a slow, but healthy 
growth in this country, and the time is not far distant 
when the preservation of the leaves and pulp by ensilage 
will be of great importance. 

Hungarian grass usually comes in to supplement a 
short hay crop, and being sown late, it is cut late, and is 
often in danger of being caught by frost before it can be 
cut and cured. The few experiments that have been 
made show that this grass may be preserved in silos, and 
thus treated makes excellent fodder. 

Mr. W. C. Strong, the well-known horticulturist of 
Brighton, Mass., tried packing Hungarian grass in the 
silo, just as it came from the field, without cutting. The 
attempt resulted in failure, there being so much air in- 
cluded in the mass that decay took place. In other 
instances, where the grass was cut before storing, it kept 
in a satisfactory manner, and made excellent ensilage. 

Millet. — Under this name a variety of plants are cul- 
tivated in this country, and there is much confusion in 
the application of the term. The true Millet of Europe, 
Panicum MilicBcum, is rarely cultivated with us. It is 
to this plant that the name. Millet, should be restricted, 
and with all other grasses it should be used with a prefix. 
The plant most generally cultiv^ated in this country as 
*' Millet " is one of the forms of Set aria Italica, (also 8. 
Germayiica, which is but another name for the same,) 
and is a variety of the "Hungarian grass." The form 
known as ** Hungarian grass" runs more to foliage, 
while those varieties knov/n as '^ Giant," "Hungarian," 
"Bengal," "Golden," and other kinds of Millet, have 
larger panicles, and produce more Urgely of seed or grain 
than the others. 

For the purposes of ensilage, the variety known as 



56 SILOS AND EJ^^SILAGE. 

Hungarian grass would be better than any of the forms 
called Millet, as they are likely to give a large supply of 
herbage. 

The name of Millet, with the prefix *' Pearl," that is, 
"Pearl Millet," has, within a few years, been given to a 
plant well known in Southern localities as " Cat-tail 
Millet," from a resemblance of its dense heads to those of 
the real ^' Cat- tail," Typlia latifolia. 

"Pearl Millet" is ^vo^^gyIj Penicillaria spicata, and 
belongs to a different genus from any other grass known 
as Millet. The trials that have been made with it show 
it to have value as a fodder plant. Like several other 
grasses, which are large enough when well established, 
this is very small at the start. When a stand is fairly 
made, it grows on with gi-eat vigor, and allows several 
cuttings to be made during the season, the number de- 
pending upon the latitude. As a plant for ensilage it is 
worthy of the attention of southern farmers. 

Sorghum, in its different kinds, is worthy of considera- 
tion as a plant for ensilage. Sorghum vulgar e has devel- 
oped into several distinct races. Those forms which are 
grown for an unusual development of the seed panicle 
are known as Broom Corn. Other varieties have been 
produced in which the saccharine matter of the stalks is 
developed to its highest point, and are cultivated for 
syrup and sugar. Other varieties still are cultivated for 
their grain, which, under the name of Durra, etc., are 
the principal bread food of some oriental peoples. Of 
late, some of these grain-producing forms have been 
offered as forage plants, and it is likely that some of these 
may be found of value for ensilage. Indeed, all of these 
kinds of Sorghum, with the exception of Broom Corn, 
are likely to give ensilage of great value, and should re- 
ceive attention in those localities where their culture is 
found profitable for feeding gi*een or curing dry. 

Eye sown for a forage crop is of great value, especially 



■ THE ENSILAGE OF OTHEK CROPS THAIT CORI^. 57 

on a dairy farm. It has the disadvantage of maturing 
rapidly, and all at once ; so soon as the heads begin to 
form, the stalk becomes hard and woody, especially at 
the lower part, and loses its nutritious qualities. 

AVhere ensilage is practised to a large extent, it is well, 
as Messrs. Whitman & Burrell propose, to have a silo 
empty by the time the rye is in its best condition for 
fodder, at which time it may be cut and stored, thus 
preserving this valuable crop in its greatest perfection. 

Both Oats and AVheat, cultivated for fodder crops, have 
been successfully converted into ensilage. We have not 
heard of the use of Oats and Peas as an ensilage crop. 
This mixture is a favorite fodder crop with many farm- 
ers, and converting it into ensilage would allow it to 
be secured for future feeding at Just the time of its great- 
est perfection, which is before the formation of the grain 
and seeds has materially diminished the nutritious value 
of the herbage in either. 

Among the kinds of forage that have been preserved 
in silos in Europe is the foliage of the Jerusalem Arti- 
choke, Helianthus tuber osits. A variety of this, called 
the "Brazilian Artichoke," is most generally cultivated, 
though it is "Brazilian" only in name. It differs from 
the old and well-known form in having shorter and 
rounded tubers, which grow close around the base of the 
plant, and these usually have a red skin. The variety 
known as " Brazilian " is regarded as vastly preferable to 
the old form with long and scattered tubers. 

This crop is coming into use in some parts of the 
country, as affording a valuable food for swine. The 
yield of tubers is often enormous, and as the harvesting 
is done by the animals themselves it is cheaply raised. 
The crop is, however, a very exhausting one, there being 
few plants that take from the soil and deposit in their 
herbage such a large amount of potash as does this. 
Wherever the Artichoke is grown, the stalks and foliage 



58 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

should be returned to the soil in some form. The French 
convert them into ensilage. Cattle and other animals 
are remarkably fond of the recent foliage, and it will be 
worth while for those who cultivate the crop for the 
tubers to experiment in the saving of the herbage in 
silos, either by itself, or mixed with corn or some other 
plant, that its valuable constituents may be returned 
to the land in the manure. 

In the agriculture of the Southern States the Cow Pea 
largely takes the place occupied by clover on northern 
farms, both as a crop to be plowed under for green ma- 
nuring, and as food for domestic animals. 

The crop is not one that is cured into hay without diffi- 
culty, as the large stems and foliage are very succulent 
and heavy, and lie so compactly that there is danger of 
moulding and decay. When made, the cow-pea hay needs 
to be handled with care, as the leaves readily break away, 
and every time it is moved the finer portions of the hay 
become scattered ; consequently caution is required in 
feeding it, or the rations will be very unequal. The por- 
tions from the upper part of the mow will be little besides 
bare stems, while that lower down will have more than 
its proper share of the foliage. By preseiving the cow- 
pea in silos these difficulties would be avoided, and the 
southern farmer will be thus enabled to provide his ani- 
mals with this rich fodder in a vastly better condition than 
is otherwise possible. 

It is not necessary that the value of the cow pea, as an 
ensilage crop, should be confined exclusively to the South- 
ern States. Though it cannot be depended upon to ripen 
its seeds in northern localities, it will, in the climate of 
southern New York, yield an abundant crop of most 
nutritious herbage. This plant is one which should re- 
ceive the attention of those interested in ensilage. There 
are some twenty or more named varieties of the cow pea 
in cultivation in the Southern States, varying almost 



• THE E2!fSILAGE OF OTHER CROPS THAN CORN, 59 

as greatly in the size and color of the seeds as do the 
garden beans. The plants differ much in size and vigor, 
as well as in their disposition to run, and seek some sup- 
port upon v/hich to climb. Some, if provided with poles, 
would climb to the hight of several feet, and these, in 
field culture, twine about one another and form a dense 
matted mass that prevents harvesting by the mowing 
machine. Some varieties are preferred by southern 
farmers for plowing under, others are considered best for 
hay, and still other kinds for the production of lipened 
peas. 

The "Johnson Grass," also in some localities called 
"Guinea Grass," and "Means Grass," is a tall perennial 
species. Sorghum Halepense, with thick tuberous roots, 
that is of late being planted extensively in the Southern 
and some of the Middle States. It allows of several cut- 
tings during the season, and is highly esteemed by those 
who cultivate it, both for feeding green and for hay. 
This is another plant that promises to have its value 
greatly increased by being preserved in silos. 

Buckwheat is one of the crops that has been suggested 
as proper for ensilage, though we have no definite accounts 
of its employment in this manner. It has the merit of 
giving a fair crop npon poor land. The straw, after the 
grain has been removed, is not regarded as especially val- 
uable, and indeed, when fed to swine or used as bedding 
for them, is apt to cause an eruption upon or irritation of 
the skin. If stored in the silo, this should be done before 
the grain has formed, just at flowering time, in order 
that the herbage may be in the most nutritious condition. 

Prickly Comfrey, Symphytum aspei^rimum, a plant that 
has been rather slow in finding a place in our agriculture, 
is in Europe commended as one useful for ensilage, espe- 
cially to mix with fodder corn in the silo. We have seen 
no definite accounts of experiments with this plant in 
the form of ensilage. In some localities in Virginia, and 



60 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

on some dairy farms in New England, it has been cul- 
tivated to some extent. The chief merit claimed for it 
is its abilty to furnish green fodder very early in spring 
and late in the fall, and we enumerate it as one of those 
plants that may possibly be of value in the silo. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ENSILAGE. 

BY J. M. MCBRYDB, PBOFBSSOB OF AGBICCLTUBE, ETC., ITNIVEBSITY OP 

TENNESSEE. 

The success of Ensilage appears to be fairly established 
by experiments in many different localities, and is there- 
fore no longer an open question. CoDcerning the nutri- 
tive value of the new food, however, the views are many 
and conflicting. We have enthusiastic farmers, on the 
one hand, declaring that ensilage is almost equal, pound 
for pound, to hay, that it is sufficient by, and of, itself 
not only to sustain life, but to fatten, that it can hardly 
be improved upon ; and, on the other hand, scientists 
assert that its value is to be estimated by its percentage 
of dry matter alone. The first refer you to the results of 
experiments where estimated amounts of this and other 
stuffs were roughly fed to different farm animals of 
various weights and ages ; the second to the results .of 
recent analyses, showing that it contains eighty per cent 
and upwards of water. The last affirm : *' Average 
ensilage contains eighty-two and a half pounds of water 
and seventeen and a half pounds of dry substance in one 
hundred, and a ton of it, skillfully fed, will make twenty 
pounds live weight of beef, which, at five and a half 



THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF EJS^SIL VGE. 61 

cents, would be one dollar and ten cents. The manure 
might bring it up to one dollar and fifty cents per ton, 
feeding value. In view of the above showing, the claim 
that ensilage is a nutritious feeding stuff is simply pre- 
posterous." Now any one who will take the trouble to 
make the necessary calculations from the data furnished 
by No. 14, in Series 2d of the subjoined experiments, 
will find that one thousand two hundred and twenty- 
three pounds of ensilage made twenty-seven pounds of 
beef, live weight, or about forty-three and three-quarter 
pounds to the ton. In other words, the estimated amount 
is wide of the mark by upwards of one hundred per cent. 
Again, the results of all the following experiments go to 
show that ensilage is not of itself a perfect food, and that 
its nutritive value is greatly increased by the addition of 
other matters. 

I do not propose, however, to discuss in detail the ex- 
periments of the several Series, my space is too limited 
for this, but simply to ask that all those interested in the 
subject will examine them, candidly and fairly, for them- 
selves. I have said enough, I hope, to show the import- 
ance of experiments carefully and accurately made, with- 
out previous bias or prejudice. As such these are 
offered, for no expense or labor was spared to make them 
thorough and reliable. They are herewith submitted in 
full and without reserve, along with the fewest possible 
words explanatory of their history and bearing. It must 
be premised that every pound of food was carefully 
weighed, the animals were confined in separate stalls, 
and were as nearly as possible alike in age, blood, and 
general condition, except in Section II of Series 1st, de- 
signed simply to test the life-sustaining power of ensi- 
lage, and in Series 3d, establishing its forcing qualities 
when properly combined with other foods. 

In Sections II and III, Series 1st, the results of the 
experiments are not as unfavorable to ensilage as they at 



62 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 






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THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ENSILAGE. 



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64 SILOS AND Ei^SILAGE. 

first sight appear ; for it must be explained, first, that 
the month of January, during which this Series was con- 
tinued, was the coldest and most inclement experienced 
in this section for years ; second, that No. 14 was a cow, 
dry upwards of a month prior to the commencement of 
the tests, but which, about one week thereafter, came 
back to her milk, she was finally dried off about the 
middle of February ; and, third, that No. 16 was a sin- 
gularly savage and unthrifty two-year-old Shorthorn bull, 
that ill-brooked the close confinement incident to the ex- 
periment. Again, Nos. 1 and 4 of Section III were 
yearlings, weaned only a week or so prior to January 2d. 
They had received, up to within a few days of that time, 
hay, meal, and slojis. No. 1 refused its rations at first, 
and never ate more than half of the amount allowed. 
No. 3, after the first week, ate nearly all. The close cor- 
respondence of the results of Nos. 3 and 5 in Section V, 
and Nos. 8 and 11 in Section VI, is especially worthy of 
notice, and makes these four experiments particularly 
valuable. In No. 18 of Section VII the heavier loss is 
perhaps explained by the greater flow of milk, as shown 
by the same number in Section VIII. It was remarked 
by several in attendance on the animals that those fed on 
ensilage alone appeared to suffer much more from the 
cold than the others. Here we have practice confirming 
theory, for the conversion o'' a portion of the carbohy- 
drates into acid and other princijiles, by the fermentation 
incident to the process, and the consequent loss, compar- 
ative, of the fat-formers, the fuel of the animal bodv, 
would lead us to expect just such results. 

In Series 2d the animals were the same as those desig- 
nated by similar numbers in Series 1st. Each, No. 15 
excepted, received during the interval between the two 
Series a daily ration, per one thousand pounds of live 
weight, of fifty pounds of ensilage, corn ; six pounds of 
the best hay, and three pints of corn meal, and in this 



THE :N^UTRITTVE value of El^SILAGE. 65 

time, about six weeks, No. 15 gained forty pounds ; No. 
9, thirty-eight pounds ; No. 14, fifty-three pounds ; No. 
8, seventeen pounds ; and No. 10, thirty-seven pounds. 
The weather during the continuance of this Series was 
damp and unfavorable, but by no means as cold as in the 
January preceding, hence the better results in case of 
No. 14, fed on ensilage alone. No. 9 demands a word or 
so of explanation. Our farm animals relished the com 
ensilage from the start, but rejected the clover ensilage 
at first, and it was several days before they became accus- 
tomed to its use. This animal. No. 9, refused its rations 
for a week, and in that time lost twenty-five pounds. 
All the loss occurred in the first week. After that time, 
becoming reconciled to the new food, it made steady and 
continuous gains. This experiment enforces the neces- 
sity of frequent weighings. It is evident that the highest 
percentage of gain in both Series were made by animals 
fed on mixed rations of ensilage and matters richer in 
albuminoids. 

In Series 3d, the animals were forced for the June 
market, and all the dates save the first show the day 
when each was sold to the butcher. In the interval be- 
tween this Series and the preceding, all the animals ex- 
cept No. 15 received the same rations as in the first 
interval. No. 15 alone of all our farm animals, upward 
of forty head, persistently refused the ensilage from the 
first. It was therefore allotted the ration of hay in 
Series 1st and 2d, and, in the first interval, three pints 
of meal in addition. After the close of Series 2d, we 
endeavored to force it to eat the ensilage, but without 
success. Hence its loss of thirty pounds between the 
last two Series. The rapid gain of No. 21, a thorough- 
bred Shorthorn, three and four-fifth pounds per day, is 
especially noteworthy. No. 14 v/as quite heavy with calf. 
One striking fact greatly in favor of ensilage was noticed 
during this Serie§. The animals, although receiving 



6Q SILOS AKD ENSILAGE. 

heavy and constantly increasing amounts of meal, never 
became gorged. From the beginning to the end ot the 
Series their appetites vrere hearty and vigorous, their 
bowels open but not too loose, their digestion good. One 
word as to the cost of the rations. The price of meal 
and hay, of course, varies in different localities. The 
corn ensilage, from the planting to the final weighing 
down in silos, cost us one dollar and fifty cents per ton, 
or seven and a half cents per hundred- weight. This esti- 
mate includes the price paid for fertilizers, interest on 
land, etc. 

[The experiments given above are worthy of the careful 
consideration of all who are interested in the subject of 
ensilage, and, with the explanations given of them, these 
tables convey the story in a most compact form. Tables 
with figures repel many persons, but there is no other 
method by which facts like these can be presented so 
compactly. The foregoing article, with the tables, is 
from the ^^ American Agriculturist." — Ed.] 



CHAPTER XIII. 
AN ABOVE GROUND SILO. 

The owner of a silo made of wood and entirely above 
ground, describes in the French *^ Journal d' Agriculture 
Pratique " the method of its construction : A certain 
number of beams. A, figure 18 (which are described here- 
after), are laid upon the soil at a distance apart of about 
two feet. Each one of tliese beams has a mortice at each 
end. The corn-stalks are discharged upon these beams 
and laid crosswise of them, building up the pile very 
regularly. When this is done, some boards are laid upon 



AN ABOVE GROUI^D SILO. 



67 



the pile, and other beams, (7, placed directly over the 
lower ones. The uprights, B, B, pierced with holes, are 
set in place ; these pass through the mortices of the beams, 
and the ends which pass through the lower beam, A, are 
secured below by strung iron bolts, through the holes in 




Fig. 18. — AN OPEN-AIR STLO. 

A. The pressure is produced by two powerful jacks, 
placed opposite each other at the upright B, and resting 
upon the beam C. The power of the jacks is exercised 
against a stout iron bolt placed in a hole in B. As the 
handles of the jacks are turned, the beam C is pressed 
down, and when a new hole in the upright B is exposed, 
an iron bolt is passed through it to retain the pressure, 




FigT- 19.— BEAM OF SILO, 

and the jacks are taken to the next upright on the same 
side of the silo. After all upon one side have been treated, 
the jacks are taken to the uprights of the opposite side, 
and the pressure applied. This is continued until the 
last beam has been pressed at both ends. Pressure is 



68 SILOS AKD ENSILAGE. 

applied in this manner daily for eighteen days ; after this 
it suffices to press every eight or ten days. The ensi- 
lage is removed by taking off one frame, consisting of two 
beams and two uprights, and cutting off the correspond- 
ing slice of fodder. The corn-fodder preserved in this 
manner Avas the ( 'aragua corn, slightly whitened by frosts. 
It was in a perfect state of preservation. Only a thick- 
ness of between three and four inches all around the pile 
was black and moldy. One of the advantages of this 
method is the ability to regulate the pressure at will. A 
beam (A, C, figure 18) is shown in figure 19 ; this is formed 
of two pieces of timber, a, a, h, h, separated by the blocks, 
c, d. The spaces between the end blocks, and those next 
to them, form the mortices e, througli which the uprights, 
{B, figure 18) slide. The owner concludes the description 
as follows: **The silo I have made, holds about two 
and a half tons of corn-fodder. The frames are about 
two feet apart, and the length of the mass is about ten 
feet. The two jacks exercise a pressure of over twenty 
thousand pounds at each end of the beams, amounting 
in round numbers to about sixteen thousands upon each 
square yard. It is to this powerful pressure that I at- 
tribute the perfect preservation of the ensilage in the 
open air, without the aid of a fodder cutter, and without 
any masonry or earth-work." — American Agriculturist. 



"sour-fodder" — PRIMITIVE ENSILAGE. 69 

CHAPTER XIV. 
« SOUK-FODDER "—PRIMITIVE ENSILAGE. 

[It has been evident to those who have watched the 
progress of ensilage in this country that this method of 
preserving fodder presented great advantages to those 
with sufficient capital to construct silos and carry out 
the method on a large scale. On the other hand, it 
offered little to the farmer with but a few cows, as he 
could not afford the outlay required for building silos 
and providing the appliances necessary in preparing and 
storing the fodder. On page 47 is given an account of 
the methods of preserving fodder, in Hungary, without 
the use of a silo, but by merely pitting it in the earth, 
and we now give a description, by Mr. H. Nicholas Jar- 
chow, of the German method of preparing " sour fodder," 
which was apparently the first attempt at preserving fod- 
der by means of ensilage. This chapter will afford useful 
suggestions to those who would preserve their fodder on 
a small scale, and experiments judiciously made will, no 
doubt, greatly extend the benefits of this method of pre- 
serving green fodder of all kinds. — Ed.] 

Mr. Jarchow says : — In Northern Europe there oc- 
curred, about half a century ago, several successive years 
which were so unusually cold and wet at harvest time 
that farmers, being unable to harvest their forage crops, 
left them to rot on the field. The second cut of clover 
and the aftermath were generally lost. A German farmer, 
whose name is now forgotten, conceived the idea of throw- 
ing his entire forage crop, cut late in the fall, into a deep 
pit dug in the field, and to cover it with earth to protect 
it from frost. The forage when thrown into the pit was 
very wet, was hard on account of the growth of woody 
fibre, and the most hoped for it was that it would make 



70 SILOS AND EIsrSILAGE. 

a useful addition to the compost or manure heap. Upon 
opening the pit the following spring the farmer, to his 
great astonishment, found, instead of a mass of manure, 
a solid body of vegetable matter, giving off an agreeable 
odor, the individual parts of which were thoroughly fer- 
mented and softened. Upon trial, he found that the 
farm animals ate the contents of the pit with avidity, 
improved on it and soon preferred it to their usual feed. 

The results of this farmer's experiment soon became 
widely known, and agriculturists, especially dairy- 
men, imitated this method of curing forage. The agri- 
cultural journals took up the subject, and these and 
scientific investigators concluded that there was here dis- 
covered a new and cheap method of preserving fodder 
plants, and one especially adapted to small farms. A 
method, which, by fermenting them, would render the 
plants more digestible and nutritious and at the same 
time more palatable. 

This method received the name of *^ Preparation of 
Sour-Fodder." It is true that there appeared opponents 
to this method who declared that animals did not like 
forage thus prepared, and when forced to eat it were 
subjected to maladies and even died. When these cases 
were investigated, the untoward results were found to be 
due to improper preparation, allowing the forage to 
mold, to salting the fodder or to exclusive feeding on 
fodder thus prepared. As early as forty years ago it was, 
in Germauy, an established fact that well prepared sour 
fodder, when properly fed, would not only be eagerly 
eaten by the farm animals, but would agree with and 
improve them. 

I well recollect thtit in that year of general dearth, 
1847, the agricultural journals advised farmers to preserve 
their fodder plants in this manner in order to keep 
them longer, to improve them and to increase the quan- 
tity of forage. It was remarked that every plant, if it 



• ^' sour-fodder" — PRIMITIVE EKSILAGE. 71 

were not poisonous and had not become too dry, could be 
made useful for feeding purposes. The farmers accord- 
ingly gathered not only the proper forage plants, but 
potato vines, turnip leaves, the leaves of trees and grape- 
vines, the last cut from meadows and clover-fields ; nay, 
they even gathered plants which are usually refused by 
animals, such as horsetails (Equisetum), swamp grasses, 
sedges, etc. It was demonstrated that these plants, un- 
der this treatment, became not only harmless but pala- 
table. 

TO PREPARE SOUR-FODDER. 

The method followed in Germany is to excavate oblong 
pits, having a surface of 200 to 300 square feet, and eight 
to ten feet deep. These are made on a part of the farm 
where there is a heavy clay soil, and where there is a per- 
fect drainage, so that no water can settle in the pit. The 
sides of the pit must be perpendicular. The forage, after 
it is stowed in the pit, begins to shrink, and unless the 
sides are perpendicular the mass cannofc settle equally. 
Some farmers line the bottom and sides of the pit with 
brick. These afford excellent storage places for sour- 
fodder, but the mason work is not necessary. 

THE FILLING OF THE PITS. 

As soon as the fodder plants are cut, and before they 
can dry, a layer two or three feet thick is uniformly 
spread over the bottom of the pit and tramped down by 
the workmen. It is not advisable to use wooden ram- 
mers as the layers are apt to be, in parts, too closely 
compacted. Layer after layer of fodder is added, and 
tramped down, until the mass of fodder reaches three or 
four feet above the surface of the soil. Earth is then to 
be thrown around this portion which projects above the 
top of the pit to form a sort of curb around it about four 
feet thick, which is to be firmly pressed down. By 



72 SILOS AN^D ENSILAGE. 

spreading the forage evenly as it is added, and tramping 
it down uniformly, the air is expelled from the masg. To 
expel the air more certainly, and to avoid air spaces in 
the fodder, water is often poured into the pit shortly 
before closing it. In case the fodder is cut during a dry 
time, water will be required to generate fermentation. 
Salt, the addition of which has been recommended by 
some, has not been found to be advantageous, as it delays 
fermentation. After the pit has been filled in the manner 
described, a layer of clayey soil, three or four feet in thick- 
ness, is thrown upon the fodder. This covering should 
be somewhat the highest in the centre, and pressed down 
all around so that it may shed water. A few days after 
the pit is made the top will begin to settle and cracks 
will appear in the covering of earth. More earth must 
be added and firmly pressed down in order to exclude the 
air. 

In about six or eight weeks fodder thus pitted will be 
cured and ready for use, and will be preserved, unim- 
paired as food, for several years, if it has been judiciously 
treated. 

The method here given is the usual way in which Ger- 
man farmers prepare " sour-fodder," though there may 
be differences on account of local or climatic reasons. 

OPENING THE PITS. 

In opening the pits, care must be taken to prevent the 
access of air and water to the forage. It is best to make 
a small opening at one end of the pit, and having taken 
out the needed quantity of the forage, to close the open- 
ing with straw, or boards, and earth. The fodder within 
the pit will be found in a compact mass, which must be 
cut with a suitable knife, and must be fed before it dries 
and becomes worthless. 



EKSILAGE IN GERMAKY. 73 

CHAPTER XV. 
ENSILAGE IN GERMANY. 

[Those who, by travel or by reading, are at all familiar 
with German agriculture, have known of the methods of 
preserving fodder crops followed in that country. They 
know that even the smallest farmers, as a matter of strict- 
est economy, often preserved their clover and other fod- 
der crops as '^'sour-fodder," "sour keep," and "brown 
hay " — and these terms, and the articles they represent, 
were familiar to them long before " silo " and " ensilage" 
had a place in the literature of agriculture. The origin 
of this German method is given in the preceding chapter 
by Mr. Jarchow, and it will be seen that ensilage was 
successfully practised by German farmers long before the 
silos of M. Goffart presented the subject of ensilage upon 
a sufficiently grand scale to attract the attention of the 
agricultural world. We would not detract from the 
credit due M. Goffart for his labors, but we would not 
have the humble farmers of Germany deprived of their 
share of praise for establishing silos on a small and prac- 
ticable scale. Mr. Jarchow has prepared, at our request, 
the following chapter upon the general practice of ensi- 
lage in Germany. — Ed.] 

In German husbandry, beet raising is of the greatest 
importance, not only for sugar making but also on ac- 
count of the great nutritive value of both the beet and its 
leaves. Though the leaves are occasionally thinned dur- 
ing the time of the growth of the plants, at harvest, in 
the fall, there is a great mass of green leaves on hand, 
averaging 4,000 pounds to the acre. These leaves repre- 
sent to the German farmer a money value of from six to 
seven dollars. AVhen dried, the leaves lose their nutritive 
properties, while when pitted green they are not only 



74 SILOS AI^D ENSILAGE. 

fully preserved but undergo chemical changes which 
adapt them for feeding purposes. 

Sour-fodder, made from beet leaves, is cured as follows : 
The leaves, together with the upper, green, woody part 
or " neck " of the root, are cut and left a day or so on the 
field to dry off a little, so that the adhering soil may be 
easily removed. Wooden forks are used and a sieve five 
feet long ; this is made of laths which are separated three- 
quarters of an inch in order to allow the adhering earth, 
which is loosened by shaking the sieve, to pass through 
readily. The leaves, after having been thoroughly shak- 
en in the sieve and freed from the soil, are packed in pits 
six to eight feet deep, which are at the bottom six feet 
and at the top ten feet wide. The leaves are then closely 
tramped down. The forage is accumulated in the pit in 
this wise to a height of three feet above the surface of the 
soil, and is then surrounded with a wall of closely pressed 
earth three feet thick. The whole pit is then covered 
with three feet of earth. Some farmers, fearing that the 
fodder may be spoiled in the pit, add salt to it, but the 
opinion at present universally accepted in regard to the 
use of salt is that it is injurious. The principal object 
of pitting the forage is to cause fermentation and the 
formation of lactic acid, and both of these are hindered by 
the use of salt. Lactic acid is formed when lime enters 
into organic compounds, some of which contain — and 
others do not contain — nitrogen. These conditions are 
present in the beet leaves. From experiments it appears 
that an addition of grain chaff to beet leaves has proved 
to be very advantageous, because this dry, and by itself nu- 
tritious substance, absorbs the liquid constituents of the 
beet leaves when packed with them in the pits. Besides, 
an addition of chaff, not exceeding five per cent of the 
weight of leaves and beet heads, regulates the fermenta- 
tion of the green mass, renders it drier and more accepta- 
ble to the farm animals, while at the same time the woody 



ENSILAGE IN GERMANY. 75 

fiber in the chaff becomes softened. The sugar in the 
beet leaves and heads is entirely decomposed, and those 
parts of the plants which contain nitrogen are also sub- 
jected to decomposition, while the fatty substances increase 
by thirty-three per cent. In fresh beet leaves the propor- 
tion of the nitrogenous nutritive properties, to those 
which do not contain nitrogen is 1 : 2.5 (just as in clover 
hay). After the beet leaves have undergone the full 
process in the souring pit, this proportion is changed to 
1 : 5, a proportion which is found in good meadow hay. 
Owing to the fermentation in the souring pit, beet leaves 
therefore lose the uncommonly rich proportion of their 
nutritive properties, and enter into a good medium pro- 
portion, such as is found in the standard fodder, meadow 
hay. 

After from five to six months the pit may be opened, 
and there will be found a well preserved nourishing fod- 
der which every farm animal will eat with avidity. 

Maize or Indian corn, in North German husbandry, 
does not play so important a part as in South Germany, 
because the summers in the northern portion are seldom 
sufficiently hot to allow of its ripening. Maize, there- 
fore, in North Germany, is only cultivated for soiling. 
But if cut green, maize cannot be used exclusively in 
feeding their cattle when farmers wish to fully utilize 
it, because maize does not contain a sufficient amount 
of nitrogenous substances. Tliis proportion must be at 
least 1 (containing nitrogen) : 7 (not containing nitro- 
gen), but is in green maize mostly 1 : 10, seldom 1 : 9.5. 
Farmers, therefore, mix green maize with other fodder 
materials in order to make up for the deficiency of nitro- 
gen in green maize. Usually they resort to clover in 
blossom, young grass, oil-cake, etc. If, at the approach 
of September, a farmer has a good stock of green maize 
on hand, it is mixed with clover hay or good meadow hay 
and pitted in the same way as other fodder plants are 



76 SILOS AKD EKSILAGE. 

treated in the souring pit. The forage is ready for use 
at the end of eight or ten weeks ; it has a dark green hue 
and emits an agreeahly sour odor. 

In South Germany and Austria the summers are 
warmer and of longer duration than at the north. There 
the maize ripens in time and can be utilized in the same 
manner as in America. Maize is, in these parts of Europe, 
used for the preparation of sour forage, but only after it 
is fully ripe and the ears are gathered. Freshly cut 
maize stalks are laid lengthwise in pits ten feet wide and 
the laborers closely tramp them down. When the pit is 
filled, heavily loaded wagons or heavy rollers are drawn 
over the pit, and thus its contents are pressed together as 
much as possible in order to avoid cavities in the mass, 
and the consequent accumulation of air. The space 
gained by this pressing is at once filled with fresh stalks 
and stamped down again, and the filling and refilling are 
continued until the mass of fodder is three feet above the 
surface of the soil. The top of the fodder heap is made 
one foot narrower than at the surface of tlie soil in order 
that in sinking, the mass may not catch on the wall and 
cause cavities. The projecting part of the souring pit is 
surrounded with a heavily pressed earth-wall, three feet 
thick, and then covered with a layer of earth of the same 
thickness, to which a conical shape is given. In from 
three to four months the fodder is ready for use and can 
be preserved by proper treatment, especially by protec- 
tion against air and water, for several years in a good, 
sound condition. 

In conclusion, I may remark that in Germany, in feed- 
ing green maize in soiling, the earlier ripening kinds have 
proved much more valuable than the late ripening. The 
reports of several of the principal experiment stations 
concur in stating that the early ripening sorts of maize, 
grown upon equally large areas of the same soil, contain, 
when cut at the same time (September 1st) from one- 



SWEET ENSILAGE. 77 

sixth to one-fifth part more of dry substance than the 
later ripening. Besides, the dry substance of the early 
ripening varieties contain much more nutritive constitu- 
ents than the later ripening, and that, in regard to the 
nutrition of animals, three pounds of forage of the form- 
er are estimated to be equal to four pounds of the late 
ripening kinds. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SWEET ENSILAGE. 

In the early days of ensilage the writer received a 
fruit jar, the cover of which closed it air-tight, contain- 
ing finely cut corn stalks. No letter of explanation ac- 
companied the jar, and after waiting several days for one, 
the contents of the jar were examined. Upon removing 
the air-tight cover, the odor of acetic acid was so positive 
and pervading as to suggest the thought that some one 
had discovered a method of producing vinegar from corn 
stalks and had sent this specimen to illustrate his 
method. We afterwards learned that it was sent as a 
sample of ensilage which was so sour that the owner 
feared to feed it to his cows. It has been the experience 
of those who have preserved fodder in silos that, when 
opened, the ensilage was often intensely sour, and upon 
exposure to the air, often grew still more sour. On the 
other hand, the contents of other silos, when opened, 
were quite without acidity, and even had a rich odor like 
that of dried fruit, as described by some, while others 
compared the odor to molasses. While the animals ate 
the sour ensilage with avidity, there was a feeling of ap- 
prehension that long continued feeding upon such in- 
tensely acid food might result unfavorably, and one of 



78 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

the first questions presented to those interested in the 
science of ensilage was : '' How can we secure sweet en- 
silage ? " This subject early engaged the attention of 
Manly Miles, M. D., now Professor of Agriculture at 
the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst. 
Doctor Miles presented the results of his experiments, and 
the views derived from them, at the Ensilage Congress 
of 1884. 

Doctor Miles' conclusions are here given in our own 
lanofuaoe : The various kinds of fermentation that take 
place in vegetable substances are due to minute plants 
{Fungi) which by their growth set up changes in vege- 
table compounds. Thus, the yeast plant ferments the 
bread, beer, etc. ; and similar minute plants, which occur 
in fruit juices, produce wine, cider, etc. The minute 
plants which produce these forms of fermentation re- 
quire the access of air that they may perform their func- 
tions. There is another group of these minute organ- 
isms which multiply in a different manner from those 
just noted, and which cause the formation of lactic and 
other acids, winch are known as 'bacteria. These occur 
in myriads in fresh ensilage, and live, multiply and carry 
on their fermentation when the air is completely excluded 
from the silo. Doctor Miles' experiments were directed 
to ascertaining the conditions under which these bacteria 
live, and how they could be destroyed. He found that 
the bacteria of lactic fermentation, and of kindred fer- 
ments, are killed by a temperature of 116°, if this be 
long continued for some time ; but they are destroyed 
much more promptly if exposed to a higher temperature 
of l;iO° to 125°. 

When freshly cut corn ensilage is exposed to free ac- 
cess of air in the silo the mass heats. It undergoes a 
process of gentle burning {Eremacausis), with a rise of 
temperature which may readily reach to 150°. Hence, 
if the cut fodder lies up loosely in the silo, and that is 



SWEET ENSILAGE. 79 

slowly filled, the filling being continued through several 
days, a high temperature, from 125° to 140°, or more, may 
be easily obtained with an imperceptible loss of fodder, 

Doctor Miles ascertained that the exclusion of air from 
fresh ensilage, whether packed or not, does not only not 
destroy the growth of the bacteria of fermentation, but 
promotes it. The result of this continued growth of 
bacteria is the conversion of the entire contents of the 
silo into what is known as '^sour ensilage." This is 
sourer the older it is. There are a great variety of pro- 
ducts from this repressed fermentation, and on exposure 
to the air the ensilage becomes, in some cases, still 
sourer from the formation of acetic acid, or vinegar. 

It has been ascertained that the exclusion of air from 
ensilage that has been heated to 120° or 125°, stops all 
action, and the mass gradually cools down. The bacteria 
of fermentation are, at this temperature, completely* de- 
stroyed — root, branch and germ — and the mass remains 
as if it were in a completely sealed preserve jar. Indeed, 
the process of ensilage is much the same as that of pre- 
serving fruits. By the exclusion of air while the sub- 
stance is hot, fermentation cannot take place. 

The above is essentially the theory as announced by 
Doctor Miles. After its announcement, cases in which the 
filling of silos had been, by accident, very slow, in which 
great heat had taken place, and on this account were sup- 
posed to be ruined, were reported ; but, contrary to expec- 
tation, they yielded sweet ensilage, the best the farmers 
reporting the cases had overseen. The odor of the ensilage 
was positively sweet — like that of molasses, and it was 
greatly relished by the cows and proved to be superioi as 
a milk-producing feed. 

After the theory and practice of Doctor Miles were an- 
nounced, we heard of those of Mr. Geo. Fry, in England, 
who had been working in the same direction, and had ar- 



80 SELOS AND EKSILAGE. 

rived at tlie same conclusions. Since then Doctor Miles' 
views have been confirmed over and over again. 

In a pamplilet, entitled *' The Theory and Prac- 
tice of Sweet Ensilage," George Fry, F.L.S., gives the 
results of his experiments upon sweet ensilage. The 
reader of Mr. Fry's work must bear in mind that his en- 
silage is very different from our own, where Indian corn 
(maize) is almost the sole crop ensiloed. Mr. Fry's 
experience was with "green rye, crimson clover, with 
and without oats ; tares or vetches, with oats ; Trifolium 
pratense (red clover), with rye grass ; and meadow 
grass." The whole teaching of Fry's book may be 
summed up in this, from page 42 : 

" One condition, I believe, to be absolutely essential for 
the production of sweet ensilage, viz. : The temperature 
of the ensilage must exceed 132° Fahr. ; if that tem- 
perature is not reached, the ensilage will be sour." — 
How far this axiom will apply to ensilage of Indian 
corn, experiments must verify. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
EXPERIENCE WITH ENSILAGE. 

J. p. KOBEBTS, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 

I have had some experience in building silos, and in 
cutting and feeding ensilage, and perhaps it may be of 
some value to those who intend to adopt this new method 
of preserving fodder. As I have formerly stated, the silo 
should be long and narrow, with the long side next to 
the barn. If the extreme inside length were thirty-two 
feet and the width sixteen feet, there should be three 
cross divisions in it ; this gives four compartments, eight 
by sixteen feet each. If the extreme depth of the silo is 
twenty feet, it can be filled up fifteen feet and will settle 



EXPERIENCE WITH E:N^SILAGE. 81 

to about eleven, nearly all the settling occurring within 
forty-eight hours. Nearly all the upper half of the silo 
is for temporary use, and, therefore, may be constructed 
of rough unmatched boards. There will be wanted, at 
most, only twelve feet of air-tight, stone, or v\'ooden wall. 
One year I raised and ensilaged about three acres of 
Southern white corn. The drouth cut it short, and 
there proved to be scarcely fifty tons of it. It was fed 
to fattening steers, milch cows, and three-fourths blood 
Holstein heifers, coming two years old in June and July. 
The three heifers selected were an average of six that had 
been running in an open basement, and had been fed on 
hay alone. They were put into stanchions on a i3lank 
floor (for the first time) and about two weeks afterwards 
the experiment began. Each was daily fed fifty pounds 
of ensilage and one-half pound of malt sprouts. The 
weights at various times were as follows : 

No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. 

Feb. 24 770 pouuds 650 pounds 780 pounds 

March 3 832 " 850 <' 834 " 

" 10 8o0 " 890 " 850 '' 

" 17 ^0 " V)00 *' 820 " 

" 24 824 '' 882 " 824 " 

March 31st two pounds of cotton-seed meal were added 
to each ration : 

April 7 890 pounds 850 pounds 840 pounds 

" 14 872 " 93S " 862 " 

" 22 870 " 925 " 902 " 

May 1 916 *' 960 " 926 " 

If the weight of March 3d be taken as the most correct, 
it is evident that there was no such true gain as the fig- 
ures between February 24th and that date indicate, but 
rather an increase of the contents of the stomach, due to 
more palatable food — then, the increase shown is but 
fourteen pounds for the three animals in twenty-one 
days. It is evident that this ration was very close to a 
maintenance one, as it was meant to be. The analysis of 
the ensilage, as well as all the other foods experimented 
with, has been made. The gain in the last twenty-three 



82 SILOS Als^D ENSILAGE. 

days, when the two pounds of cotton-seed meal were 
added, was two hundred and twenty-two pounds, while 
in the interim of fourteen days, from March 24th to 
April 7th, the gain was fifty pounds. Without doubt, 
this last gain was largely made during the first seven 
days of April, when the meal was fed. From the above, 
may not the following conclusions be drawn ? That 
Southern corn ensilaged will maintain young animals, 
but that it is better economy to add to it some food rich 
in albuminoids. The heifers, fed as above, came through 
the winter looking far better than the three of the same 
age fed on hay, and done much better in the spring after 
they went to pasture. 

In February we had two aged cows go dry, and one 
heifer ; they were then low in flesh, having been milked 
over a year. With feeding stuffs ranging from thirty- 
five to forty dollars per ton, they could not be sold at an 
average of more than twenty-five dollars. I determined 
to feed them. Thev weisfhed as follows : 

Heifer. No. 1. No. 2. 

Feb. 21 1,150 pounds 1,000 pounds 980 pouTids 

April 20 1,320 " 1,150 '' 1,070 '' 

Selling price.... $65 74 $50 00 $49 97 

They were fed fifty-two pounds of ensilage and eight 
quarts of corn-meal each, per day, until April 5th, when 
two quarts of cotton-seed meal were substituted for two 
quarts of corn-meal. The best results in feeding for 
milk was when ensilage was fed in connection with about 
two pounds of corn-meal, two pounds of bran and three 
pounds of cotton-seed meal. 

On the 16th and 17th of June following I put into one of 
our silos (eleven by sixteen, and twenty-eight feet deep) 
three acres of rye and one and a half acres of clover ; one 
load of clover was sandwiched between two loads of rye. 
The fuel was one and a half cords of two-foot wood ; the 
engineer a sixteen-year old student ; one man in the silo 
the first day, two the second ; seven men and two teams 



EXPERIENCE WITH EITSILAGE. 83 

to cut, haul, and feed the material. The rye averaged 
fully six and a half feet in height, and grew on the 
ground where the ensilage corn grew last year, which 
was again planted to ensilage corn. The clover was 
heavy, and together they filled twenty-two feet of the 
silo. It settled six feet in forty-eight hours, and appeared 
to be about done. This, at forty-five pounds to the cubic 
foot, gave sixty-three tons. The pressure is secured by 
about three tons of stone piled at the corners, and a 
screw anchored in the bottom of the silo, made of two 
sections of one and a quarter inch square iron ; the third 
section round, four feet of it having threads cut, five to 
the inch. Two eight-inch timbers are laid lengthwise 
about four feet apart ; short blocks upon these form a 
sure foundation for the circular, cast-iron cap, upon 
which the nut turns. Notwithstanding all tliat has been 
said against the rod pressure, I like it. The silo was 
covered, weighted, and screwed down withiu half an hour 
from the time the cutter stopped, and less than two 
hours labor of one man had been spent in turning down 
the screw ; ten minutes will unseal it. 

The reader who is balancing the pros and cons of ensi- 
lage in his mind, is without doubt still undecided, but I 
tiiink I have given data from which a better understand- 
ing may be reached. It is utterly impossible for anyone 
to make others' circumstances similar to his own, but it 
may not be unprofitable to enumerate the various items 
of cost, etc. First, we have a stationary engine for 
threshing — a liarse power may be used. The silos of 
one hundred and fifty tons capacity together cost about 
three hundred dollars. The cutter cost one hundred 
dollars, but we need one for other use. Two of the men 
employed cost one dollar per day; seven men, one dollar 
and twenty-five cents per day; and one man, one dollar 
and sevent3'-five cents per day. The teams are Avorth 
very little to us about that time of the year and their 



84 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

labor is light. There is a little charge to be made for 
the use of tools and implements. The three acres of rye 
had a dressing of fifteen loads of farm manure, worth to 
us fifteen dollcirs. Perhaps half of this should be charged 
to the succeeding corn crop. 

What it will cost A or B to raise three acres of rye, I 
cannot say, nor what one and a half acre of clover is 
worth ; the second growth will probably be heavier than 
the first. From September until June I had ready sale 
for about 5,000 quarts of milk per month, at five cents 
per quart. If drouth comes, it is difficult to produce 
it, for the more cows one purchases the more the evil 
is aggravated ; but with ensilage, cows can be kept 
from flies, out of the sun, fed in the stables, and turned 
out at night. 

I believe the greatest utility of silos will be found to 
consist in the means they furnish of preserving forage 
plants in a green and palatable state, which may be easily 
grown in abundance in May and June, but if not then 
secured they would become dried up and nearly worth- 
less ; oV, if dried and housed, the animals appear to have 
but little relish for them in the hot dry days of August. 
The reasons for building silos with small compartments 
are manifold ; a small compartment may be filled and 
sealed up in a single day, thereby not seriously interfer- 
ing with the regular work. Each forage plant may be 
taken when in its best condition. One compartment 
may be filled early with rye and clover, which is showing 
a tendency to spoil by lodging, or is full of Aveeds that it 
is desirable to eradicate ; a second, with oats and a second 
cutting of the former clover field, or a weedy, belated 
piece of timothy. A piece of fodder corn and aftermath 
would fill a third compartment later in the season. 

If the compartments are small, they may be uncovered 
entirely and fed from the top, and if not all consumed, 
they can be filled up with new material ; or, if one or 



SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON ENSILAGE. 85 

more compartments are entirely emptied, they may be 
refilled in September, thus securing a two-fold benefit 
from them. 1^'rom my experience, I judge that a com- 
partment not entirely emptied in the spring, if disturbed 
only on the top, would sustain little loss until June if re- 
sealsd, or it might be left open, and a little of that ex- 
posed to the air daily, fed to the horses as cut feed. 
Our horses, thus fed last winter, relished it very much. 

There are many problems in regard to ensilage that are 
still unsolved ; but should everything be found favorable 
to the new method, still there are men who would have 
no more use for a silo, than for a trottiog-horse. There 
are men having so little energy and skill, that should 
you give them the best herd of Shorthorns, they would 
become little better than scrubs in ten years. Under cer- 
tain conditions the method can be adopted with profitable 
results ; but he who rushes thoughtlessly into it will find 
that ensilage is too ''^Frenchy," unless mixed with a 
liberal allowance of brains. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON ENSILAGE. 

The following items, of interest to those who are in- 
vestigating the subject of ensilage, not properly belonging 
to either of the preceding chapters, are here brought to- 
gether in a supplement. 

INCREASING THE CAPACITY OF A SILO. 

Cut fodder corn finally settles in the silo to two-thii^ds 
or one-half its original bulk. If a silo be filled and 



86 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

weights put on, the mass settles, and there is a great 
waste of sj^ace. To obviate this, and to utilize the full 
capacity of the silo, Mr. Mills proposes to erect a frame of 
plank to extend above the upper edge of the masonry of 
the silo to a hight corresponding to about half its depth. 
After the silo proper, the enclosure of masonry, concrete, 
or of whatever the structure may be built, is filled with 
the material, this frame is to be put on, and the filling 
continued into that. The covers and weights are to be 
placed upon the contents, and after these have settled 
down to the silo proper, the frame is to be removed and 
the covering put on permanently. 

ENSILAGE FOR POULTRY. 

All who have had any experience with poultry are aware 
of the great benefit that comes from a proper supply of 
green vegetable food during the winter. This is ordi- 
narily supplied by feeding cabbages, stored in the usual 
manner, or roots. Those who have tried it, assert that 
ensilage of Indian corn may be fed to fowls as an equiva- 
lent for other green food at a much less expense than such 
food can be supplied in any other form. 

THE CHEMISTRY OF ENSILAGE. 

Like other new methods in agriculture, ensilage has 
its enthusiastic advocates, and its opponents, or, at least, 
those who are indifferent to it. 

Much that has been written upon the subject is in a 
style that may be considered as sensational, and calcu- 
lated to repel the earnest seeker after facts, and convey 
the impression that a method advocated in so extrava- 
gant a manner may not be of real value. 

It is claimed by those who are opposed to the method, 
that chemical analysis shows that corn fodder is injured 
by ensilage, and its feeding value lessened by the loss of 



SUPPLEMENTARY KOTES ON ENSILAGE. 87 

important constituents. This statement rests mainly 
upon tlie results obtained by Moser at the Vienna Exj)eri- 
ment Station, an abstract of whose article was presented 
by Prof. H. P. Armsby, of the Sheffield Scientific School, 
New Haven, Conn. 

The summing u]^ of the analyses of Moser shows that 
the corn fodder, as treated by him, lost in the silo from 
eight to thirty-eight per cent of albuminoids, and a loss 
of thirteen to fifty-eight per cent of nitrogen-free extract, 
such as starch, sugar, etc. 

It should be stated that these analyses are not strictly 
those of ensilage, but of corn fodder made into bundles, 
placed in the silo at different depths, and surrounded by 
the cut fodder. A portion of the bundles of fodder 
were allowed to wilt for a few days before they were 
buried in the cut fodder, a condition to which ensilage, 
in this country at least, is not subjected. It is a well- 
known fact that fermentation can not take place without 
a loss in the material fermented. The object in ensilage 
is not to encourage fermentation, but to check it. If 
the silo is perfectly tight, fermentation will cease as soon 
as the oxygen in the air that is inclosed in the cut fodder 
is used up. The more perfect the process, the less will 
be the fermentation, and, of course, the smaller the loss 
in the constituents of the fodder. That there will be 
some loss is inevitable, but it will not be claimed that 
Moser's analyses show what that loss is, in the best con- 
structed and best managed silos. When that loss of 
feeding constituents is accurately ascertained, we shall 
then be able to judge whether or not it is counterbal- 
anced by the advantages of ensilage. 

The author of the article referred to, Prof. Armsby, 
in his admirable '^Manual of Cattle Feeding," remarks : 
*' Corn being a comparatively cheap crop, the losses of 
material during the fermentation might be compensated 
by the improved quality of the residue." 



88 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

*'It does not appear from Grandeau's analyses, how- 
ever, that there is any marked difference in this respect 
between fresh maize and ensilage. If this is generally 
the case, then fermented corn-fodder has all the advan- 
tages of the fresh fodder, and no others, except perhaps 
as regards palatability, and ensilage is to be looked upon 
simply as a method of preserving corn fodder ; and the 
question of its adoption is a purely economical one." 

THE CHARACTER OF THE MANURE. 

In considering the advantages of ensilage, the superior 
mechanical condition of the manure from animals fed 
upon it, should not be overlooked. When ordinary corn 
fodder is fed Avithout cutting, the animals reject the hard 
lower portions, and these go to the manure pile, adding 
to its bulk rather than to its value, and making the 
manure very difficult to handle or to manage. The 
fodder being cut fine for ensilage is all eaten. Should 
any be rejected, and find its way into the manure, the 
small size of the pieces make them unobjectionable. 

THE ENSILAGE CONGRESS. ' 

In the year 1882 some gentlemen interested in the 
preservation of fodder by ensilage, and in the machinery 
used in the process, issued a call for a meeting of those 
who practised this method. It was held in New York 
City and was attended by an unexpectedly large number, 
showing that the method of preserving fodder by ensilage 
was already receiving the attention of many farmers and 
dairymen. The results of the first gathering were so 
satisfactory that it was followed each year by others, and 
at the meeting in 1886 a permanent organization. The 
Ensilage Congress, was formed. The Congress has the 
usual officers, and is to meet yearly in New York City at 
the call of the President. The officers chosen for 1886 



SUPPLEMENTARY ]SOTES Oi^ EI^SILAGE. 89 

were : President, Edward Gridley ; Secretary, J. B. 
Brown ; Treasurer, ^Y. W. Merriam ; Vice-Presidents, 
O. B. Potter and nineteen others. The annual dues 
are two dollars. A Eeport of Uie transactions of the 
Congress is published yearly. 

CRIMSOlNr OR SCARLET CLOVER. 

Those who read recent English works on ensilage will 
find frequent mention of the Crimson or Scarlet Clover 
(TrifoUum incarnatum), fiequently called in England 
red-top clover. This is an annual species, growing about 
two feet high, and bearing an oblong head of very brill- 
iant flowers — so showy, indeed, that the plant is often 
cultivated as an ornamental annual. As an agricultural 
plant it is of some importance in Europe, being sown in 
autumn and perfecting in early spring. In his work on 
"Sweet Ensilage,'' Mr. George Fry makes frequent ref- 
erence to this clover. On page 57 he says: "Then, 
again, there are many excellent fodder crops, such as 
TrifoUum incarnatum (in my opinion the finest of all 
British fodder crops)," etc. 

This clover was introduced into this country as early 
as 1818, but has never made a place for itself in our agri- 
culture. It may be now, in view of its value as an ensi- 
lage crop, and the fact that being an annual, it may be 
of use as a cleansing crop, that some of our farmers may 
be induced to make a trial of it. Its feeding value, while 
not equal to that of the perennial clovers, stands high. 

TO BUILD A CHEAP SILO. 

Whatever cheapens the cost of the silo, or lessens the 
expense of filling it, will hasten the introduction of the 
method, especially upon the farms of those of moderate 
means. Professor Manly Miles, of the Massachusetts Ag- 
ricultural College, in describing the silos used by him 



90 SILOS a:n^d ej^silage. 

in his important experiments on ensilage, says : " A 
balloon frame of scantling, of suitable size, covered oil the 
outside with matched boards, and lined on the inside 
with two thicknesses of one-inch matched boards, with 
a layer of tarred paper between them, thus securing a 
practically air-tight inclosure, surrounded by a dead-air 
space as a protection against frost, is, in the opmion of 
the writer, the best and cheapest form of construction. 
If the boards and timbers are saturated with hot coal-tar, 
which can readily be done with trifling expense, the du- 
ration of the silo will be very much increased." 

THE TEMPERATUEE i:^ THE SILO. 

To ascertain the temperature of the ensilage at any given 
depth in the silo, provide a piece of gas-pipe an inch in 
diameter. At the lower end of this pipe, weld, or attach 
by a screw thread, a short, steel point. Just above this 
point bore several holes about one-eighth of an inch in 
diameter. At the upper end of the pipe, attach a ferrule 
to which are welded two arms, six to nine inches long. 
Thrust a lock of wool down to the bottom of the tube, to 
serve as a cushion upon which the thermometer may rest. 
To ascertain the temperature of the ensilage at any re- 
quired depth, thrust the gas-tube down to this distance, 
allowing it to remain for about ten minutes. Then lower 
down to the bottom of the tube a thermometer (which 
has its degrees marked on its stem) by means of a string 
until it rests upon the wool below. In the course of an 
hour withdraw the thermometer quickly and read the 
temperature. 

NOMENCLATUKE. 

New methods and new processes introduce new names, 
and ensilage has proved no exception to this. It may be 



SUPPLEMENTARY KOTES OK EKSILAGE. 91 

convenient to give here such names as have been adopted, 
as well as some that have been proposed. 

Silo — A pit, and, as now used, the receptacle for fodder 
preserved by this process, whether above or below ground. 

Ei^siLAGE — The method of saving fodder in silos ; also 
the contents of a silo, or pitted fodder. In England this 
is abbreviated to Silage, which is sometimes used in this 
country, but it failed of adoption by the last Ensilage 
Congress. 

To Ensilo — To place in a silo. 

Eksiloer — One whoensiloes. 

Ensiloed — Perfect participle of to ensilo. 

Ensiloing — Present participle of to ensilo. 

The substitution of silage for ensilage would be conve- 
nient, leaving ensilage to indicate the system of preserv- 
ing fodder. The matter was discussed at the last Ensilage 
Congress, the chief objection to silage being that it was 
English. The Congress voted to retain ensilage to denote 
both the system and the contents of the silo. Still, if it is 
found more convenient, silage will come into general use. 

THE champion silo OF ENGLAND. 

The Eoyal Agricultural Society of England was last 
year commissioned by its President, Sir Massey Lopes, to 
offer a prize of $500 for ^' the best silo in England 
and Wales in actual work during the winter of 1885-86." 
In the competition for this prize there were no less than 
thirty-seven silos, the result being that the prize was 
awarded to Mr. John Morris, of Tutham Court, Madley, 
Herefordshire, for the silo of which Ave give an illustra- 
tion (fig. 20). In their report to the Koyal Agricultural 
Society, the judges give a capital description of this silo. 
It is an entirely new structure, thirty-six feet in length, 
fifteen feet in width, and thirteen feet in height^ with a 



93 



SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



i .'I. '/ 







SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON ENSILAGE. 93 

super silo or shed above^ seven feet in height to the eaves 
of the roof. The silo may be described as an underground 
silo, walled in with stone, and excavated ten feet deep, the 
surrounding ground being banked up three feet to the 
top. On the coping are built ten brick piers, seven feet 
in lieight, and upon these the roof is supported. The silo 
is divided by two cross walls into three compartments. In 
these walls are planked openings, affording ready commu- 
nication from one compartment to the other. There is 
a third opening in the front wall. The middle compart- 
ment, which is approached from the farm-j-ard by a 
walled, sloping road, wide enough for a cart to pass along. 
The cost of building this silo amounted to one hundred 
and two pounds, eighteen shillings and eightpence, (five 
hundred and fourteen dollars and fifty-six cents), the 
cost being moderate, and amounting to only fourteen 
shillings (three dollars and fifty cents) per fifty cubic feet 
of capacity. The silo was filled in fourteen days, during 
which time the weather was superb. The croj) consisted 
of oats and grass, cut in full bloom, and unchaffed. The 
pressure adopted was that of men and horses first tread- 
ing down the contents, and then continued jDressure by 
leverage. The ensilage w^as found good and sweet, and was 
well utilized. The silo is in close proximity to the cattle 
folds, where some hundred head of pure bred Hereford s 
are kept. There were about one hundred and fifty tons 
of ensilage made in this silo, and the whole has been 
eaten by the Herefords without the slightest waste. The 
silo has thus proved a success in every way. 



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